THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT 


"For  if  they  do  these  things  in  a  green  tree, 
what  shall  be  done  in  the  dry  ? '  • 

LUKE  xxiii,  31. 


THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT 


BY 


FLORENCE  MORSE  KINGSLEY 

Author  of 
"Titus,"  "Stephen"  and  "Paut." 


Philadelphia 

HENRY    ALTEMUS 

1899 


COPYRIGHTED,  1898,  BY  FLORENCE  M.  KINGSLRY 


HENRY   ALTRMUS,  MANUFACTURER, 
PHILADELPHIA. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  FAGB 

I.  "  THE  ONLY  SON  OF  His  MOTHER,"     ...  9 

II.  THE  MAKING  OF  A  RABBI 15 

III.  THE  SHEPHERD'S  STORY, 30 

IV.  THE  CHILD  AND  THE  LAW, 39 

V.  AT  THE  FOUNTAIN, 49 

VI.  EXPIATION, 62 

VII.  IN  THE  TEMPLE 68 

VIII.  CONCERNING  THE  PRINCE, 78 

IX.  A  QUESTION  AND  AN  ANSWER,      ...        -87 

X.  JESUS  IV., 94 

XI.  THE  REJECTED, 100 

XII.  OUT  OF  THE  DEPTHS, 109 

XIII.  IN  THE  NEW  OF  THE  MOON,  .        .        .        .        .119 

XIV.  A  SINGER  OF  HYMNS, 130 

XV.  A  SIMPLE  CREED, 140 

XVI.  WITH  THE  CHIEFS  OF  THE  NATION,      .        .        .     148 
XVII.  MERODAH,   .        .        .        .        ,        .        .        .156 

XVIII.  A  RULER  OF  JERUSALEM, 17° 

XIX.  A  DAUGHTER  OF  THE  HERODS,     .        .        .        .182 

XX.  "  As  BIRDS  FLYING," 195 

(vii) 


2228931 


viii  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  PACK 

XXI.  THE  LAST  VICTORY, 199 

XXII.  IN  APHTHA 211 

XXIII.  THE  HOUSE  DESOLATE 223 

XXIV.  THE  LAST  HIGH  PRIEST, 234 

XXV.  THE  SHOPKEEPER  OF  THE  AGRA,        .        .        .  241 

XXVI.  OUT  OF  THE  NORTH, 252 

XXVII.  A  HIRED  SERVANT, 262 

XXVIII.  THE  COMING  STORM, 273 

XXIX.  BAR-GIORAS, 285 

XXX.  "  Lo,  I  AM  WITH  You  ALWAY  1"  .        .294 

XXXI.  AN  OPEN  GATE, 299 

XXXII.  THE  WISDOM  OF  FOOLS, 311 

XXXIII.  A  MEETING  OF  THE  SANHEDRIM,        .        .        .  322 

XXXIV.  THE  BLACK  FAST, 328 

XXXV.  A  MORE  EXCELI^NT  WAY,         .        .        .        .  342 

XXXVI.  VICTORY, 348 


CHAPTER  I. 
"THE  ONLY  SON  OF  HIS  MOTHER." 

JESUS,  a  carpenter  of  Galilee,  who  also  was 
called  the  Christ  by  certain  Jews  who  fol- 
lowed him,  had  been  dead  full  seventeen  years — 
dead,  and  already  put  out  of  mind  and  forgotten 
by  many  who  had  both  seen  him  and  heard  him 
speak,  when  a  man-child  was  born  in  the  little 
mountain  village  of  Aphtha.  Many  months  before 
the  child  opened  his  eyes  in  the  cold  gray  of  a 
winter  dawn  his  father  had  closed  his  forever.  They 
laid  him,  swathed  hand  and  foot  in  spiced  linen,  in 
a  narrow  niche  cut  deep  in  the  rocky  hillside. 

His  young  widow  lived  on  alone  in  a  tiny  cottage 
on  the  opposite  side  of  the  valley.  From  her  door- 
way she  could  see  the  great  stone  which  lay  across 
the  narrower  doorway.  She  thought  in  those  days 
that  if  she  also  might  dwell  in  that  other  house — 
from  whose  doorway  one  never  passed  out — she 
would  be  content,  quite  still  and  content.  Later 
she  remembered  the  child.  When  she  looked  upon 
the  fatherless  one  she  said,  "He  shall  be  called 
Phannias." 

(9) 


io  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

The  child's  first  conscious  memory  was  that  of 
the  face  of  his  mother,  dark  with  passionate  sor- 
row, shining  with  love,  solemnly  beautiful  as  a 
storm-cloud  rent  with  lightning  yet  touched  with 
the  clear  light  of  the  sun.  As  he  gazed  into  this 
face,  whereon  love  and  sorrow  were  so  wondrously 
blended,  thoughts  began  to  grow  within  him.  His 
eyes  answered  her  eyes.  After  a  time  he  came  to 
understand  the  words  which  fell  from  her  lips  ;  but 
he  made  no  haste  to  use  his  own  tongue.  Long 
after  the  little  head,  running  over  with  curls  of  mid- 
night blackness,  came  to  be  seen  here  and  there 
about  the  house  and  garden,  he  was  still  silent. 

The  neighbors  were  not  slow  to  observe  this. 
"The  child  hath  a  dumb  devil,"  they  whispered 
among  themselves,  and  made  ostentatious  room  for 
the  widow  when  she  came  to  the  fountain,  the  child 
perched  upon  her  shoulder,  or  later,  clinging  shyly 
to  the  folds  of  her  robe. 

Rachel,  wrapped  in  the  impervious  garment  of 
her  sorrow,  paid  no  heed  to  either  looks  or  whis- 
pers, returning  the  reluctant  salutations  that  greeted 
her  appearance  with  dropped  lids  and  the  formal 
"  Peace  be  with  thee."  She  had  come  to  Aphtha 
a  bride  and  a  stranger ;  widowed  within  the  month 
of  her  arrival,  she  was  a  stranger  still.  Her  na- 
ture, rich,  generous,  abundant,  a  bright  river  of 
gladness,  had  on  a  sudden  plunged  into  black  silent 
depths,  to  emerge  no  more  save  in  one  sparkling 
fountain.  Henceforth  she  lived  for  her  child  alone. 


"  TUB  ONL  Y  SON  OF  HIS  MOTHER."  n 

Phannias  dimly  comprehended  this  before  he 
spoke.  He  also  understood  that  he  himself  was 
not  like  the  other  children,  who  noisily  laughed  and 
cried,  played  and  quarreled  about  the  village  streets. 
For  himself  he  seldom  either  smiled  or  wept,  never- 
theless he  was  happy  as  an  angel.  The  garden, 
with  its  terraced  steeps,  whereon  the  vine  was  wed- 
ded to  the  olive  with  eastern  thrift  and  beauty ;  the 
luxuriant  tangle  of  almond  and  oleander,  whose 
blossoming  branches  wrapped  the  low-walled  cot- 
tage in  a  bower  of  fragrant  silence ;  the  stream 
twinkling  pleasantly  over  its  smooth  round  peb- 
bles ;  tall  lilies,  pouring  forth  odorous  secrets  at 
dawn  and  at  twilight ;  pigeons  circling  in  blue  air 
like  nearer  clouds ;  bird  voices  loud  and  jubilant 
with  the  new  day,  or  drowsily  sweet  and  tender  in 
the  purple  evenings — all  these  and  others  innumer- 
able, changing  from  wonder  to  wonder  with  the 
changing  seasons,  made  of  the  child's  narrow  world 
no  less  than  heaven.  In  this  heaven  his  mother 
reigned  supreme  ;  of  all  things  beautiful,  lovely  and 
adorable,  she  was  to  the  child  the  most  beautiful, 
the  most  lovely,  the  most  to  be  adored. 

When  Phannias  was  three  years  old  his  mother 
told  him  of  God.  He  had  already  learned  to  pray, 
as  the  bird  learns  to  sing.  The  nestling  listens  to 
the  song  of  its  mother  and  twitters  its  joy  aloud ; 
so  Phannias  babbled  sweetly  to  his  mother's  eyes 
words  which  she  taught  him  evening  by  evening. 
But  one  day  a  new  thought  came  to  him,  and  with 


12  THE  CEOSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

the  thought  a  question.  "  Who  is  God,  my 
mother  ?" 

Rachel  trembled — angels  also  tremble  when  they 
teach  a  white  soul  of  God.  "  God  is  the  holy,  in- 
visible One  who  made  the  whole  earth,"  she  said 
slowly.  "  He  made  all  things  that  thou  dost  see, 
child, — thyself  also.  Thou  must  love — adore  him." 

"  Did  he  make  thee  ?" 

"Yes,  truly,  he  made  me." 

"Then  I  will  love  him,  for  I  love  thee." 

To  love  the  maker  of  his  mother,  of  the  stars 
and  the  lilies,  was  not  difficult ;  it  was  indeed  quite 
as  easy  and  inevitable  as  breathing.  The  child 
breathed  and  loved,  and  was  happy  for  a  whole 
year ;  then  his  mother  told  him  of  The  Law.  He 
quickly  learned  that  The  Law  was  far  more  difficult 
to  understand  than  God.  The  Law  had  made 
nothing  pleasant  or  beautiful.  The  Law  did  not 
love  him,  yet  it  required  of  him  many  things,  some 
of  them  strange  and  hard  to  understand. 

In  the  joyous  days  of  the  grape  harvest,  when 
all  the  other  children  of  the  village  frolicked  in  the 
vineyards  from  dawn  until  evening,  their  hands  and 
faces  stained  purple  with  the  luscious  juices  of  the 
fruit,  Phannias  stood  sad  and  silent  beside  the  door 
of  his  mother's  cottage.  The  Law  forbade  him 
to  touch,  much  less  taste,  a  single  berry  of  all  the 
tempting  clusters  ripening  fragrantly  in  the  warm 
shadows  of  the  vines. 

"  Did  The  Law  make  the  vines,  my  mother  ?"  he 


"  THE  ONLY  SON  OF  HIS  MOTHER."  13 

asked,  leaning  his  round  cheeks  in  his  palms,  and 
staring  wistfully  at  the  heaped-up  clusters  of  red, 
purple  and  white  which  the  young  men  and  maidens 
were  carrying  with  shouts  of  happy  laughter  to  the 
vintage. 

"  No,  my  son,"  answered  Rachel,  smiling  into 
the  questioning  dark  eyes  upturned  to  hers.  "  God 
made  the  vines  ;  the  fruit  also  is  good  and  pleasant. 
But  thou  art  vowed  unto  God  a  holy  Nazarite,  as  I 
have  already  told  thee  many  times.  Thou  wilt  be 
beloved  of  God,  as  was  Samuel,  the  prophet ;  the 
angels  also  will  love  thee." 

Phannias  had  learned  from  his  mother's  lips  many 
wonderful  stories  concerning  the  unseen  God,  and 
his  dealings  with  men  and  women  long  since  van- 
ished from  off  the  earth.  She  was  accustomed  to 
read  these  tales  from  a  scroll,  which  was  kept  be- 
tween whiles  in  a  box  of  fragrant  wood.  This  scroll 
had  once  belonged  to  his  father,  she  told  him ;  it 
would  one  day  be  his.  The  child  regarded  it  with 
awe,  the  spicy  odor  of  the  parchment  unfolding 
strange  meanings  beyond  the  tales  of  love  and  hate, 
obedience  and  rebellion,  mercy  and  terrible  retribu- 
tion, which  his  mother  recited  in  her  low,  passionate 
voice. 

As  for  the  story  of  Samuel,  the  prophet,  he 
knew  it  by  heart ;  nor  was  he  ignorant  of  the  vow 
which  bound  him.  The  Nazarite  must  abstain  from 
three  things  :  the  fruit  of  the  vine,  either  fresh  or 
dried,  in  old  wine  and  new  ;  vinegar  also,  and  the 


14  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

pleasant  molasses  made  of  grapes  which  the  chil- 
dren ate  upon  their  bread  in  the  cold  days  of 
winter.  He  must  refrain  from  cutting  the  hair  of 
his  head.  He  must  avoid  contact  with  things  dead. 

Grapes  were  undoubtedly  beautiful  to  look  upon, 
and  the  fragrance  of  the  new  wine  was  sweet  as  it 
was  borne  past  on  the  slow,  creaking  ox-carts  ;  but 
there  were  also  compensations. 

"  Shall  I  live  in  the  temple,  as  did  Samuel  ?"  he 
asked,  after  a  short  period  of  reflection  ;  "  and  will 
God  speak  to  me  in  the  night-time  ?" 

Rachel  regarded  her  child  in  silence.  No  angel 
could  be  more  pure  and  beautiful,  she  thought, 
with  an  exultant  swelling  at  heart.  She  remem- 
bered her  vow,  the  vow  of  Hannah,  the  mother  of 
Samuel,  a  vow  made  in  bitterness  of  soul  and  with 
strong  crying  in  the  first  days  of  her  desolation : 
"  If  thou  wilt  look  upon  the  affliction  of  thine  hand- 
maid, O  Lord  of  Hosts,  and  wilt  give  unto  thine 
handmaid  a  man-child,  then  will  I  give  him  unto 
the  Lord  all  the  days  of  his  life,  and  there  shall  no 
razor  come  upon  his  head." 

"My  Phannias,"  she  said  slowly,  "thou  shalt  in- 
deed dwell  in  the  temple  ;  and — God  will  speak  to 
thee." 


THE  MAKING  OF  A  RABBI. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE    MAKING    OF    A    RABBI. 

AS  Phannias  grew  older  the  thing  called  The 
Law  waxed  increasingly  insistent ;  it  entered 
into  every  moment  of  his  waking  life,  filling  his  ears 
with  a  never-ending  clamor  of  "thou  shalts"  and 
"thou  shalt  nots."  Thus  and  so  must  he  wash,  eat, 
drink,  stand,  sit  and  walk  ;  thus  and  so  must  he  pray, 
think,  love  and  hate.  The  list  of  forbidden  things 
and  of  things  unlawful  and  unholy  grew  and  length- 
ened day  by  day  till  it  seemed  to  the  bewildered 
child  that  the  lawful,  the  holy,  the  permitted  were 
quite  lost  sight  of  and  forgotten. 

His  mother  had  long  ceased  to  be  his  only 
teacher ;  the  ruler  of  the  synagogue  and  the  ten 
Batlanin, — or  men  of  leisure  who  constituted  the 
legal  congregation, — beholding  a  Nazarite  for  life 
growing  up  in  their  midst  fatherless,  had  early  con- 
stituted themselves  fathers  in  Israel  to  guide  his 
young  steps  in  the  slow  and  difficult  path  of  cere- 
monial holiness.  Day  by  day  these  zealous  teach- 
ers riveted  to  the  child's  tender  soul  heavier  and 
yet  heavier  lengths  of  that  galling  chain  of  rabbinical 
laws  and  precepts  which  the  blind  centuries  had 
welded  to  the  ten  strong  links  forged  on  Sinai. 


16  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

The  child  dragged  his  chain  patiently.  To  be 
holy,  to  be  beloved  of  God,  appeared  to  him  ever 
more  and  more  desirable,  but  alas,  ever  more  diffi- 
cult and  remote.  He  longed  for  the  time  when  he 
should  go  up  to  the  temple  in  Jerusalem.  Once 
there,  he  thought,  surrounded  by  all  the  beauty 
and  the  glory  of  the  house  of  Jehovah,  breathing 
as  it  were  the  very  air  of  heaven,  it  would  be  both 
easy  and  delightful  to  please  God. 

In  the  satisfied  eyes  of  his  mother  he  grew  in 
grace  even  as  he  grew  in  stature.  She  was  both 
gladandafraid  when  Ben  Huna,  the  excellent  rabbi 
who  taught  the  village  school,  told  her  that  her 
son  possessed  a  brilliant  mind  and  would  one  day 
be  a  great  scholar.  To  be  a  scholar  meant  chiefly 
to  know  the  law  as  it  was  laid  down  in  the  Bible 
and  in  the  holy  books  of  the  learned,  the  Talmud 
and  the  Mishna.  Already  the  lad  had  been  taught 
to  thank  God  that  he  had  not  been  made  a  woman. 
He  must  also  learn  that  "  the  mind  of  woman  is 
weak ;"  that  "  blessed  is  he  whose  children  are 
sons,  but  woe  to  him  whose  children  are  daugh- 
ters;"  that  "as  children  and  slaves  so  also  is 
woman,  devoid  of  understanding  and  wisdom." 
Therefore  while  Rachel  looked  forward  with  joy  to 
the  day  when  her  child  should  sit  among  the  great 
rabbins  at  Jerusalem,  she  knew  right  well  that  the 
first  stones  were  being  laid  in  an  impassable  wall 
which  should  divide  them  forever. 

In  secret  Phannias  hated  both  the  Talmud  and 


THE  MAKING  OF  A  RABBI.  rj 

the  Mishna,  with  their  endless  obscurities,  ambigui- 
ties, expositions,  arguments  and  illustrations ;  the 
distracting  babel,  as  it  were,  of  the  myriad  voices 
of  half  a  thousand  years.  But  he  found  in  the 
Bible  a  spring  of  living  water,  fresh  and  delightful, 
which  comforted  him  in  the  arid  desert  of  man- 
made  wisdom. 

Also,  and  chiefly,  because  the  lad  loved  his 
master,  he  remained  human  and  sane  during  this 
period  of  his  life.  The  Rabbi  Ben  Huna  was  truly 
a  wise  man.  Not  only  was  he  possessed  of  great 
learning — a  good  thing  in  itself,  but  of  small  mo- 
ment in  a  world  wherein  there  are  only  degrees  of 
ignorance — but  beyond  and  above  his  knowledge 
of  the  Bible,  the  Mishna  and  the  Talmud,  he  was 
possessed  of  a  soul  of  rare  gentleness.  To  Ben 
Huna  a  spirit  created  of  God  was  the  most  wonder- 
ful thing  in  all  the  universe.  He  bowed  himself 
before  the  meanest  pupil  who  sat  in  his  presence, 
believing  that  through  each  pair  of  childish  eyes 
looked  forth  a  sacred  intelligence,  each  differing 
from  every  other  with  all  the  infinite  variety  of  omni- 
potence. He  was  therefore  never  angry  or  impatient 
because  of  apparent  dullness  or  lack  of  understand- 
ing. Nor  did  he  at  any  time  make  use  of  the  rod,  or 
even  of  the  leathern  strap,  for  chastisement;  wherein 
he  differed  from  the  custom  laid  down  by  Solomon 
and  practiced  by  most  instructors  of  youth. 

"God  created  man  in  his  own  image,"  he  was 
wont  to  say ;  "  moreover,  he  breathed  into  the 


18  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

body  so  created  his  own  spirit ;  is  it  meet  then  to 
disfigure  with  stripes  the  image  of  the  Most  High  ? 
or  to  pour  contempt  upon  the  breath  of  God  which 
animates  it?" 

If,  during  the  hours  devoted  to  mastering  the 
knottier  portions  of  the  law,  this  wise  master  ob- 
served a  drooping  of  some  curly  head,  or  caught  a 
sigh  of  weariness  from  one  of  the  smaller  or  duller 
children,  he  would  straightway  propound  some 
curious  riddle,  or  relate  a  marvelous  legend,  which 
effectually  opened  every  languid  eye  ;  whereat  the 
lesson  would  be  resumed  and  carried  to  a  triumph- 
ant finish. 

"  Truly  the  children  are  like  the  tender  plants  in 
our  gardens,"  he  would  say,  with  a  wise  shake  of 
his  gray  head  ;  "  there  must  be  more  sunshine  than 
cloud,  more  pleasant  warmth  than  winter  cold  to 
bring  them  to  their  fruitage." 

As  for  Phannias,  he  came  in  time  to  understand 
that  all  created  things  were  under  the  law ;  that 
The  Law  was,  in  a  word,  El  Skaddai,  the  Almighty. 
Ben  Huna  bade  the  children  observe  the  mother 
bird,  that  throbbing  bit  of  fire  and  air,  fettered  to 
her  narrow  nest  through  the  long  hours  and  days 
of  incubation.  He  pointed  out  to  them  the  eager 
labors  of  the  bee,  the  unflagging  industry  of  the 
ant,  the  patient  unfolding  of  leaf  and  stalk  of  every 
smallest  seed  hid  in  the  broad  bosom  of  the  fields. 
He  made  plain  how  that  in  all  the  realm  of  nature, 
from  the  humblest  blossom  of  earth  to  the  brightest 


THE  MAKING  OF  A  RABBI.  19 

star  of  heaven,  there  was  nothing  purposeless,  noth- 
ing idle,  nothing  lawless. 

He  also  set  forth  at  length  that  The  Law  was  a 
great  wall  and  bulwark,  whereby  Israel  was  bless- 
edly set  apart  in  the  green  pastures  of  the  Creator's 
love  and  favor ;  dwelling  learnedly  on  the  fact  that 
of  the  six  hundred  and  thirteen  laws  of  the  Mosaic 
code,  the  two  hundred  and  forty-eight  "thou  shalts  " 
corresponded  wondrously  to  the  two  hundred  and 
forty-eight  members  of  the  human  body;  and  that  the 
number  of  the  negative  precepts,  the  "  thou  shalt 
nots,' '  beautiful  ly  equaled  the  three  hundred  and  sixty- 
five  days  of  the  solar  year.  Hence,  if  on  each  day 
each  member  of  the  body  should  keep  one  of  the  af- 
firmative precepts,  and  abstain  from  one  of  the  things 
forbidden,  unholy  and  unclean,  the  whole  law  would 
be  safely  accomplished  within  the  circle  of  the  year. 

"  Surely  not  a  difficult  thing  for  God  to  require 
of  us,  my  children,"  he  would  conclude,  with  a 
slow  wave  of  his  hand  about  the  listening  group. 

The  good  rabbi  did  not  neglect  to  add  that  if  one 
man  could  for  one  day  perfectly  keep  the  whole 
law — not  neglecting  the  smallest  jot  or  tittle — on 
that  blessed  day  the  Messiah,  the  anointed  of  Je- 
hovah, the  glorious  redeemer  of  Israel  from  suffer- 
ing and  bondage,  would  surely  come.  Indeed,  Ben 
Huna  began  and  ended  every  homily  with  tales  of 
this  long-awaited  Messiah  and  his  kingdom.  Some 
of  these  tales  were  exceeding  strange,  some  beau- 
tiful, others  marvelous  beyond  belief. 


20  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

The  children  straightened  their  small  shoulders 
valiantly,  like  mighty  men  of  war,  when  their  gen- 
tle master  told  them  how  the  King  Messiah  would 
gird  himself  with  a  sword  forged  of  the  lightning 
and  go  forth  against  his  enemies,  attended  by  the 
conquering  hosts  of  Israel,  overthrowing  walled 
cities  and  slaying  the  armies  of  the  foe,  with  the 
chief  captains  and  princes  and  warriors  thereof,  till 
the  garments  of  the  Anointed  One  were  dyed  pur- 
ple, like  to  the  skins  of  grapes  ;  while  the  moun- 
tains around  Jerusalem  poured  down  rivers  of  in- 
iquitous Gentile  blood. 

In  the  jubilant  days  of  the  vintage  he  related  the 
old  rabbinic  legend  of  how,  when  Messiah's  king- 
dom should  be  established  upon  earth,  all  trees  and 
vines  would  be  laden  every  month  the  whole  year 
round,  and  that  with  fruit  the  like  of  which  the 
earth  had  never  yet  produced.  In  those  days  a 
single  grape  would  load  a  wagon  or  a  ship,  so  that 
the  wine  press  and  the  labor  thereof  would  be  no 
more  required  ;  men  would  draw  the  sparkling  new 
wine  from  one  of  these  glorious  fruits  as  from  a 
cask. 

In  the  time  of  the  barley  harvest  he  repeated 
the  prophetic  words  of  the  sacred  poet,  David : 

"  There  shall  be  an  handful  of  corn  in  the  earth  upon  the 

top  of  the  mountains  ; 
The  fruit  thereof  shall  shake  like  Lebanon  !" 

This  corn — a   single   grain  of  which   would  be 


THE  MAKING  OF  A  RABBL  21 

greater  than  a  man's  clenched  fist — would  not,  he 
assured  them,  be  reaped  with  the  sickle  and  beaten 
out  with  the  hard  labor  of  the  flail,  as  they  now  be- 
held it ;  for  God  would  send  a  mighty  wind  from 
his  chambers  which  would  blow  down  the  white 
flour  into  the  vessels  made  ready  to  receive  it. 

As  for  Jerusalem,  the  holy  city,  the  desire  of  na- 
tions, the  joy  of  the  whole  earth,  the  chosen  of  Je- 
hovah, "  In  the  days  to  come,"  he  declared,  "Jeru- 
salem will  be  the  centre  of  Messiah's  kingdom.  It 
will  be  so  great  that  its  walls  will  reach  even  to  the 
gates  of  Damascus.  Its  palaces  and  dwellings  will 
be  more  lofty  than  high  towers,  piercing  even  to  the 
distant  clouds,  and  shining  splendidly  by  night  with 
a  light  beyond  the  light  of  the  sun.  Its  gates  will 
be  builded  of  pearls  and  of  stones  exceeding  pre- 
cious ;  thirty  ells  long  will  they  be,  and  as  broad. 
The  mountains,  moreover,  round  about  the  city  will 
abound  in  gold  and  silver  and  jewels  of  price,  and 
every  child  of  Israel  may  take  of  them  as  he 
will." 

All  of  these  tales  and  legends,  gleaned  from  the 
writings  of  the  ancients,  did  the  good  Ben  Huna 
relate  to  his  pupils ;  but  best  of  all  he  loved  to 
break  forth  with  the  inspired  cry  of  Isaiah  :  "  Look 
upon  Zion,  the  city  of  our  solemnities  !  Thine  eyes 
shall  see  Jerusalem  a  quiet  habitation,  a  tabernacle 
that  shall  not  be  taken  down  ;  not  one  of  the  stakes 
thereof  shall  be  removed,  neither  shall  any  of  the 
cords  thereof  be  broken.  But  there  the  glorious 


22  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

Lord  will  be  unto  us  a  place  of  broad  rivers  and 
streams,  whereon  shall  go  no  galley  with  oars, 
neither  shall  gallant  ship  pass  thereon.  For  the 
Lord  is  our  judge,  the  Lord  is  our  lawgiver,  the 
Lord  is  our  king ;  he  will  save  us. — And  the  in- 
habitant shall  not  say,  I  am  sick.  The  people  that 
dwell  therein  shall  be  forgiven  their  iniquity  !" 

Then  all  the  children  would  be  very  quiet,  their 
round  eyes  fixed  in  reverent  silence  upon  the  face 
of  their  master.  At  such  times  he  seemed  to  them 
no  less  than  a  prophet. 

On  one  of  these  occasions  Phannias,  bolder  than 
his  fellows,  ventured  to  pluck  Ben  Huna  by  the 
sleeve  as  he  mused  with  bent  head.  "  Tell  me,  my 
master,  will  the  king  Messiah  come  on  a  sudden 
from  out  the  heavens,  clothed  with  purple  and  girt 
with  the  lightning?" 

"Not  so,  my  son,"  said  Ben  Huna  gravely. 
"  How  is  it  that  thou  hast  forgotten  the  word  of  the 
sure  prophecy  of  Jehovah,  '  Behold  the  days  come, 
saith  the  Lord,  that  I  will  raise  unto  David  a  right- 
eous branch,  and  a  king  shall  reign  and  prosper, 
and  shall  execute  judgment  and  justice  in  the  earth.' 
Also  it  is  written  that  the  prince  shall  appear  in  the 
town  of  Bethlehem,  situate  not  ten  furlongs  distant. 
Hear  now  the  word  of  the  prophet  Micah :  '  But  thou, 
Bethlehem,  though  thou  be  little  among  the  thou- 
sands of  Judah,  yet  out  of  thee  shall  he  come  forth 
unto  me  that  is  to  be  ruler  in  Israel ;  whose  goings 
forth  have  been  from  of  old,  from  everlasting.'  " 


THE  MAKING  OF  A  RABBI.  23 

The  children,  one  and  all,  knew  this  right  well ; 
they  had  heard  it  from  their  cradles,  and  no  less 
than  their  elders  they  thought  and  talked  and 
dreamed  of  the  wonderful  holy  prince,  whose  coming 
heralded  all  imaginable  delights. 

Phannias  was  silent,  but  his  dark  eyes,  fixed  full 
upoa  his  master's  face,  were  both  eager  and  ques- 
tioning. Ben  Huna  observed  this.  "  Hast  thou 
also  another  question,  my  son?"  he  asked,  with  a 
benignant  smile. 

"  I  would  tell  thee  one  thing,"  said  the  boy  mod- 
estly, "that  befell  me  yesterday." 

"  Say  on,  my  son." 

"At  the  sixth  hour,"  continued  the  lad,  "  it  hap- 
pened that  my  mother  sent  me  to  Jabez,  the  inn- 
keeper in  Bethlehem,  to  fetch  oil  which  she  had 
bought  for  our  lamps.  Jabez  bade  me  rest  in  the 
shadow  of  the  khan,  and  also  fetched  out  to  me 
cakes  of  fine  meal  and  goat's  milk  in  a  wooden 
bowl." 

Ben  Huna  nodded  his  head  approvingly.  He 
was  well  pleased  at  the  token  of  respect  shown  his 
favorite  pupil, — for  whom,  in  his  heart  of  hearts,  he 
already  hoped  great  things.  "  The  innkeeper  is  a 
man  of  wisdom  and  discernment,"  he  said,  "in  that  he 
showeth  honor  to  whom  honor  will  one  day  be  due." 

Phannias'  dark  sensitive  face  flushed.  "  He  told 
me  a  strange  story,"  he  said,  looking  down  upon 
the  ground  with  a  troubled  air. 

The  rabbi   frowned.     "  What  did  he  tell  thee, 


24  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

child  ?"  he  said  quickly,  a  note  of  anxiety  in  his 
gentle  tones. 

"  Jabez  is  an  old  man,"  said  Phannias,  thought- 
fully ;  "  perchance  the  mists  of  age  have  clouded 
his  understanding.  This  is  the  story  that  he  told 
me.  Threescore  years  ago,  when  all  the  world 
was  taxed  according  to  the  decree  of  Caesar,  every 
man  went  up  to  his  own  city  that  he  might  pay  his 
tribute.  To  the  city  of  Bethlehem  also  came  a 
multitude  of  them  that  were  of  the  house  and  lin- 
eage of  David.  *  The  inn  was  full,'  quoth  Jabez ; 
'  and  my  pouch  was  swollen  with  coin.  It  was  a 
good  time  and  a  profitable ;  indeed,  for  my  part  I 
could  not  regret  the  taxing,  though  not  a  few  of  the 
tribute-payers  cried  out  that  it  was  woe  and  in- 
iquity ;  also  they  cursed  the  Gentile,  Tiberias,  and 
his  brood  of  evil-doers,  both  loud  and  deep. 

"  '  Towards  evening,  when,  as  I  have  said,  the 
inn  was  already  filled  to  overflowing,  there  came  a 
man  from  Galilee  and  besought  of  me  a  place  to 
eat  and  sleep.  Thou  art  welcome,  even  as  my  earli- 
est guest,  I  told  him ;  but  what  then  shall  I  do  ? 
Every  stall  hath  already  its  beast  of  burden,  and  as 
for  the  sleeping-places,  thou  mayest  look  for  thy- 
self and  see  that  there  is  no  room  for  so  much  as 
the  sole  of  a  man's  foot.  At  this  the  stranger  was 
greatly  troubled,  and  said  that  while  for  himself  he 
could  make  shift  with  his  woolen  cloak  and  a  pil- 
low of  earth,  his  young  wife  was  ill  and  must  tarry 
no  longer  in  the  chill  of  the  winter  night. 


THE  MAKING  OF  A  RABBI.  25 

"  '  Come  thou  in,  I  cried,  and  rest,  if  thou  wilt, 
in  the  cave  yonder  where  my  oxen  are  feeding; 
there  will  be  a  roof  at  least  betwixt  thee  and  the 
naked  heavens  ;  I  will  fetch  a  bundle  of  straw  for  the 
woman.  It  was  a  poor  place  enough,  but  the  man 
seemed  grateful  for  it.  He  brought  in  the  woman, 
a  blue-eyed  slip  of  a  thing,  tottering  for  very  weari- 
ness as  her  husband  lifted  her  across  the  threshold.' 

"  Jabez  showed  me  the  place  " — and  Phannias 
dropped  his  voice  almost  to  a  whisper — "  a  stall 
hollowed  out  in  the  hillside  !" 

"  Go  on  with  thy  tale,"  said  Ben  Huna,  sternly ; 
"  I  will  hear  it  as  he  told  thee." 

Phannias  fixed  his  great  black  eyes  on  his  master's 
face  with  manifest  amazement.  "  I  have  told  thee 
the  tale  even  as  he  told  me,  my  master,"  he  said. 
Then  he  went  on  slowly,  as  if  careful  to  remember 
every  smallest  word.  "  The  innkeeper  tarried 
before  the  gate  that  he  might  guard  those  within, 
but  about  the  fifth  hour  of  the  night  he  laid  himself 
down  upon  a  truss  of  straw  and,  being  very  weary, 
soon  fell  sound  asleep.  How  long  he  slept  he 
knew  not,  but  he  was  suddenly  awakened  by  a 
sound  of  loud  knocking  at  the  door,  and  voices 
calling  to  him  to  open. 

"At  first  he  would  not,  saying  that  the  inn  was 
full  and  the  door  fast,  according  to  the  law.  But 
looking  out  from  the  postern  and  seeing,  among 
them  that  tarried  before  the  gate,  certain  honest 
shepherds  of  his  acquaintance,  he  opened. 


26  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

" '  Peace  be  unto  thee,  thou  son  of  Abraham, 
and  peace  be  to  this  house  !'  cried  the  chief  shep- 
herd ;  and  by  the  light  of  the  torch  which  he  car- 
ried the  innkeeper  saw  that  the  man  trembled 
like  one  who  was  afraid,  yet  his  face  shone  with  a 
strange  joy.  'Show  us  the  holy  babe,  I  beseech 
thee,  that  we  may  worship  him ;  for  verily  He  is 
come  that  was  promised  !' 

"  Whereat  the  innkeeper  was  astonished.  '  There 
is  no  babe/  he  said  ;  '  Jehovah  help  thee,  man,  thou 
art  distracted  with  wine  !' 

"  But  they  insisted,  saying  that  as  they  watched 
their  flocks  on  the  hillside,  a  great  light  shone  about 
them,  and  in  the  midst  of  the  light  appeared  a 
mighty  angel,  who  declared  to  them  that  the  Christ 
was  born." 

Ben  Huna  laid  an  authoritative  hand  on  the 
child's  shoulder.  He  perceived  that  the  youthful 
Nazarite  was  trembling  with  excitement.  "  I  will 
finish  the  tale,  my  son,"  he  said  gravely.  "  The 
son  of  Eliphaz  hath  strangely  forgotten  the  wisdom 
which  his  years  should  have  taught  him,  else  he 
would  not  have  told  thee  this  thing.  The  time  is 
not  yet  for  teaching  thee  the  false,  the  evil,  the  ac- 
cursed. Woe  is  me,  that  one  so  guiltless  must 
needs  learn  aught  of  the  guilty !  But  know  this 
much,  that  while  Israel  hath  waited  patiently  for  her 
Deliverer  through  the  slow  ages,  many  false  prophets 
have  appeared — yea,  and  shall  appear  till  the  prom- 
ised day  of  blessing. 


THE  MAKING  OF  A  EABBL  27 

"  The  babe  which  was  born  in  the  khan  yonder 
grew  to  be  a  man,  dwelling  quietly  enough  in  the 
Galilean  village  of  Nazareth,  where  both  he  and 
his  father  followed  the  honest  trade  of  carpenter. 
During  these  years  it  is  said  of  him  that  he  observed 
the  law  and  dwelt  blameless  among  his  fellows. 
Then  on  a  sudden  a  mad  hermit  arose  out  of  the 
desert,  one  John,  called  also  of  the  people  the 
Baptist,  because  he  would  have  no  other  followers 
save  those  who  consented  to  be  plunged  by  him 
into  some  stream  or  river — a  thing  not  enjoined  by 
the  law  of  Moses.  This  man  proclaimed  himself 
the  prophet  of  the  Messiah  ;  much  people  followed 
him,  and  there  was  a  great  stir  of  the  excitable 
rabble  through  all  the  land.  In  the  midst  of  the 
tumult  the  carpenter,  Jesus  Ben  Joseph — who  also 
was  of  near  kin  to  the  Baptist — laid  down  his  tools, 
and,  taking  to  himself  certain  ignorant  and  un- 
learned fishermen  of  Galilee,  began  to  go  about 
the  provinces,  haranguing  the  people  and  cunningly 
working  pretended  marvels  among  the  superstitious 
folk  of  the  country-side. 

"  At  the  first  the  learned  paid  little  heed  to  either 
the  sayings  or  doings  of  the  Galilean,  but  when  it 
came  to  the  ears  of  the  council  at  Jerusalem  that 
he  taught  the  people  to  despise  the  customs,  declar- 
ing that  he  had  come  to  fulfill  the  law  and  the 
prophets,  it  seemed  wise  to  look  to  the  matter.  I 
was  a  young  man  in  those  days  and  tarried  in  the 
schools  of  the  rabbis  at  Jerusalem."  Ben  Huna 


28  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

paused  abruptly  and  arose  to  his  feet.  "  The  hour 
grows  late,"  he  said.  "  Go  your  ways,  my  lambs, 
lest  your  parents  chide  me  for  a  careless  shepherd." 

In  truth,  the  good  rabbi  was  not  minded  to  re- 
late the  undeniably  strange  facts  in  this  history 
of  the  man  of  Galilee  to  these  wide-eyed  listeners 
of  his,  without  time  for  due  thought  and  reflec- 
tion. He  knew  also  'that  there  would  be  questions 
to  answer. 

"  The  words  of  a  teacher,"  he  said  within  himself, 
"  are  like  the  seed  which  a  man  casts  into  his  field  ; 
they  must  be  sifted  with  jealous  care  lest  a  hidden 
germ  of  evil  be  mingled  therewith  to  bear  fruit  unto 
destruction.  To-morrow  I  will  tell  them  what 
befell  the  carpenter  who  called  himself  the  Son  of 
Jehovah." 

The  children,  many  of  whom  had  already  heard 
the  story,  ran  joyfully  away  to  their  play.  But 
Phannias,  walking  slowly  homeward,  thought  of 
the  dark  manger  which  he  had  seen  in  the  ancient 
khan,  and  of  how  the  gloomy  place  shone  with 
unearthly  brightness  in  that  black  midnight  sixty 
years  ago.  He  wandered  dreamily  to  the  verge 
of  the  hill  on  which  the  village  stood  and  looked 
down  into  the  storied  valley  beneath.  There  were 
shepherds  yonder,  watching  the  flocks  which  wan- 
dered on  the  hither  side  of  the  stream.  Beyond 
the  smooth  green  slopes  stood  the  hoary  pile  of 
the  Migdol  Eder,  the  watch-tower,  all  unchanged 
since  the  mysterious  night  when  angels  burst  the 


THE  MAKING  OF  A  RABBI.  29 

starry  walls  of  heaven  to  herald  the  coming  of  the 
babe  of  Bethlehem. 

As  he  gazed,  Phannias  was  seized  with  a  strong 
desire  to  learn  more  of  the  strange  story.  Why 
might  he  not  find  the  very  shepherds  who  had  seen 
the  vision !  Without  stopping  to  consider  that 
the  sun  was  already  dropping  behind  the  western 
horizon,  the  child  ran  swiftly  down  the  rugged 
path  which  led  to  the  valley. 


30  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 


CHAPTER  III. 
THE  SHEPHERD'S  STORY. 

THE  shepherds  lay  wrapped  in  their  warm 
abbas  watching  the  flocks  as  they  cropped 
the  green  pastures  beneath  the  shelter  of  the  hill. 
It  was  the  time  of  year  when  the  sheep  were  suf- 
fered to  feed  by  night  as  well  as  by  day,  that  they 
might  be  sleek  and  well-nourished  by  Passover 
time.  For  these  flocks  of  Bethlehem  were  sacred 
to  the  service  of  the  great  temple  at  Jerusalem,  and 
every  spotless  lamb  which  frolicked  joyously  at  its 
mother's  side  in  the  soft  spring  grass  was  destined 
to  pour  out  its  innocent  life  into  the  golden  bowl 
of  sacrifice. 

The  men  had  eaten  their  frugal  supper  of 
bread  and  olives,  and  had  cast  lots  for  the  night- 
watches,  a  duty  which  in  these  troublous  times  was 
not  without  its  positive  perils  to  shepherds  as  well 
as  to  flocks.  The  chief  shepherd,  one  Enoch,  a 
stout,  middle-aged  man,  was  speaking ;  he  had  a 
long  tale  to  tell  of  the  day's  doings  in  Jeru- 
salem. 

"  The  High  Priest,  Ananus,"  this  worthy  was 
saying,  with  an  air  of  relish,  "  hath  burned  his  holy 
fingers  in  the  Roman  torch.  Nothing  pleases  the 


THE  SHEPHERD'S  STORY.  31 

multitude  better  than  blood,  as  his  sacred  highness 
knows  right  well,  and  the  multitude  was  clamorous 
and  must  needs  be  appeased.  There  being  no 
procurator  in  Jerusalem  since  the  death  of  our  ex- 
cellent Festus,  there  was  no  one  to  say  him  nay 
when  he  laid  hold  on  three  of  the  chief  men  of  the 
Nazarenes.  Look  you,"  he  continued,  frowning 
and  raising  his  voice  excitedly,  as  he  perceived  sig- 
nificant glances  pass  betwixt  the  men.  "  I  am  no 
believer  in  the  false  Messiah,  as  ye  well  know,  but 
one  of  them,  the  man  James,  called  also  the  Just, 
is  not  unknown  to  me,  and  I  say  that  the  condem- 
nation was  unlawful.  He  is  a  Nazarite — for  more 
than  fifty  years,  and  a  righteous,  law-abiding  man, 
save  for  his  one  folly  in  confessing  the  crucified 
carpenter.  He  was  condemned  to  be  stoned  be- 
cause, forsooth,  he  perverted  the  multitude ;  am  I 
not  of  the  multitude,  and  did  he  pervert  me  ?" 

One  of  the  under-shepherds  whispered  something 
to  his  neighbor  with  a  sly  chuckle,  whereat  Enoch 
pounded  irritably  upon  the  ground  with  his  staff. 
"  Hold  thy  peace,  fellow,  till  I  have  had  my  say. 
The  Nazarenes  were  condemned,  and  the  temple 
guard  dragged  them  off  to  the  place  of  death.  I 
myself  saw  them  as  they  were  haled  through  the 
streets  after  their  sentence,  a  great  multitude  fol- 
lowing, some  wailing  and  beating  upon  their  breasts, 
others  crying  out  curses  upon  the  crucified  Galilean 
and  his  followers.  Into  the  midst  of  the  tumult 
rode  a  detachment  of  the  Roman  guard  bearing  a 


32  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

command  from  the  newly-appointed  procurator, 
Albinus,  to  release  the  prisoners  at  once.  The  cun- 
ning Nazarenes  had  sent  a  fleet  messenger  to  meet 
the  Roman  as  he  journeyed  toward  Jerusalem." 

"  Holy  fire !  so  the  rascals  escaped  after  all !" 
cried  out  one  of  the  listening  shepherds. 

"They  were  loosed  from  their  bonds,"  said  his 
chief  grimly ;  "  what  befell  them  afterward  at  the 
hands  of  the  multitude  I  know  not.  It  was  said 
that  Ananus  would  be  at  once  degraded  from  his 
office  as  a  punishment  for  his  part  in  the  infringe- 
ment of  Roman  law." 

"That  were  small  wonder,"  commented  one  of 
the  group,  shrugging  his  shoulders,  "  and  welcome 
news  to  our  worshipful  Agrippa,  who  makes  high 
priests  that  he  may  also  have  the  pleasure  of  un- 
making them." 

"Sedition!  Sedition!"  shouted  another,  beat- 
ing his  horny  palms  together.  "  The  air  is  full  of 
it ;  the  very  sheep  yonder  will  shortly  refuse 
their  fodder  and  cry  out  for  the  fruit  of  the  vine  !" 

"  Ay,  comrade,  it  is  well  spoken,"  said  an  aged 
man  who  had  been  listening  quietly,  shaking  his 
head  from  time  to  time  with  the  grave  and  sorrow- 
ful air  of  a  man  who  listens  to  a  tale  of  long-ex- 
pected disaster.  "  Ay,  the  times  are  ripe  for  mar- 
vels ;  and  who  should  know  it  better  than  I,  who 
have  already  seen  prodigies  past  the  telling  ?  Strange 
things  have  come  to  pass  in  yonder  guilty  city — 
strange  things  and  terrible ;  and  stranger  things 


THE  SHEPHERD'S  STORY.  33 

and  things  yet  more  terrible  are  to  come.  Ye  shall 
see  them,  but  perchance  I  shall  be  spared,  for  the 
tale  of  my  days  is  nearly  told.  Hear  ye,  one  and 
all,  the  man  of  Nazareth  was  of  the  house  and  lin- 
eage of  David  !  He  was  born  in  the  khan  yonder, 
beneath  a  star — a  blazing  star  !  /  saw  it !  / — in 
the  flesh,  I  saw  it!" 

The  trembling  tones  of  the  old  man's  voice  rose 
to  a  shrill  cry.  He  flung  his  arms  high  above  his 
head  with  a  gesture  of  unutterable  longing.  The 
shepherds  looked  at  one  another  with  meaning 
smiles. 

"  The  dotard  will  rave  of  the  star,  the  babe  and 
the  angels  till  dawn,"  muttered  one  of  the  younger 
men,  sneering  openly.  "  I,  for  one,  will  not  hear 
it."  With  that  he  arose,  and  flinging  his  abba 
across  his  shoulders  strode  away  toward  the  watch- 
tower. 

One  by  one  the  other  shepherds  followed  his  ex- 
ample till  the  old  man  was  left  alone  with  his  mem- 
ories beside  the  dying  fire.  He  did  not  seem  to 
notice  that  his  comrades  had  left  him,  but  sat  mo- 
tionless, staring  into  the  luminous  dusk  of  the  early 
twilight.  Suddenly  his  dim  eyes  brightened ;  he 
rose  trembling  to  his  feet  and  stood  with  bowed 
head,  awaiting  the  approach  of  a  figure,  clad  all  in 
white,  which  came  swiftly  toward  him  down  the 
steep  hillside.  To  the  worn  vision  of  the  aged 
shepherd  the  beautiful  child-figure,  with  its  light 
fluttering  garments,  seemed  no  other  than  an  angel, 

3 


34  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

floating  adovvn  the  steeps  of  heaven  to  console  him 
in  his  grief  and  loneliness. 

As  for  Phannias — for  it  was  Phannias  who  ran 
lightly  down  the  rugged  path — no  sooner  did  his 
eyes  light  on  the  bowed  figure  of  the  shepherd  than 
he  knew  with  a  child's  beautiful  prescience  that  he 
had  found  what  he  sought. 

"Wilt  thou  tell  me,  good  sir,"  he  cried  in  his 
clear  sweet  voice,  "  of  the  visit  of  the  angels,  and 
of  the  child — the  little  child — Jesus,  in  the  manger 
of  the  khan?" 

"  Blessed  be  Jehovah !  Praised  be  his  holy 
name  !"  murmured  the  shepherd,  folding  his  with- 
ered hands.  "  Men  will  neither  heed  nor  believe 
me ;  but,  lo !  thou  hast  sent  an  angel  to  hear  my 
witness  before  I  go  hence  !" 

Phannias  regarded  the  old  man  with  awe,  his 
large  serious  eyes  shining  with  eager  joy.  He  but 
half  comprehended  his  words.  "  Didst  thou  indeed 
see  him?"  he  asked  wistfully,  "and  wilt  thou  tell 
me  how  it  all  befell  ?  I  have  already  seen  the  dark 
manger ;  the  keeper  of  the  inn  told  me  that  the 
light  from  the  star  above  streamed  through  the 
earthen  roof." 

"  It  did  ! — it  did !"  cried  the  shepherd,  tears  of 
pure  joy  coursing  down  his  withered  cheeks.  "  The 
star  and  the  light  from  the  wings  of  unseen  angels 
filled  the  place  with  the  radiance  and  warmth  of 
heaven.  Ah,  the  glory  of  it  all !  What  joy  be- 
yond the  telling  for  mortal  eyes  and  ears  and 


THE  SHEPHERDS  STORY.  35 

tongues,  and  what  blackness  of  despair  and  grief 
in  the  sad  years  to  come.  I  will  not  tell  thee  of 
that,  but  only  the  beautiful  beginning  of  it  all. 

"  Look  you,  child  of  the  Highest,  we  guarded 
the  flocks  in  this  very  place  threescore  years  ago, 
a  goodly  company,  devout  and  prayerful,  looking 
for  the  fulfillment  of  the  promise.  I  was  but  a  lad 
— no  higher  than  my  staff  here.  As  we  kept  the 
midnight  watch,  making  mention  of  the  Lord's 
anointed,  as  was  our  wont,  on  a  sudden  there  was 
a  light, — a  great  light,  and  in  the  midst  of  it  there 
appeared  the  figure  of  a  man,  clad  in  shining  rai- 
ment. And  when  we  were  all  fallen  on  our  faces  to 
the  earth, — being  sore  afraid  because  of  the  vision, 
the  angel  spake  graciously  to  us. 

"  '  Fear  not !'  he  said,  '  for  behold,  I  bring  you 
good  tidings  of  great  joy  which  shall  be  to  all 
people.  For  unto  you  is  born  this  day,  in  the  city 
of  David,  a  Saviour,  which  is  Christ  the  Lord.  And 
this  shall  be  a  sign  unto  you  :  ye  shall  find  the  babe 
wrapped  in  swaddling-clothes,  lying  in  a  manger.' 

"  When  the  angel  had  said  this  there  was  a 
sound,  sweet  and  awful,  as  of  mighty  silver  trump- 
ets, and  with  the  trumpets  the  voices  of  a  great 
multitude  of  them  that  sang  gloriously.  Yet  was 
the  multitude  as  one  voice  crying, 

"  '  Glory  to  God  in  the  highest ! 
On  earth  peace, — good-will  to  men  !' 

"  I  heard  it !    /—in  the  flesh — /  heard  it !    Also 


36  THE  CEOSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

I  beheld  with  these  mortal  eyes  the  host  of  the 
blessed — rank  upon  rank  of  shining  ones ;  some 
floating  just  above  the  ground,  their  dazzling  gar- 
ments shedding  a  silver  light  over  all  the  valley 
and  the  stream  and  the  flocks,  so  that  one  could 
see  the  tiniest  lamb  nestling  by  its  mother's  side  ; 
while  beyond  and  above  the  earth,  shining  rank 
upon  shining  rank,  wing  folded  to  wing,  the  sing- 
ing angels  filled  the  heavens,  a  cloud  of  glory  !  / 
saw  it !  I — in  the  flesh  !  And  I  live  to  bear  wit- 
ness that  it  is  true !"  The  shepherd  turned  his  face 
toward  the  stars,  stretching  out  his  arms  with  a 
long,  quivering  sigh. 

Phannias  regarded  him  with  a  pure  delight  not 
unmixed  with  fear.  After  a  time  he  ventured  to 
lay  his  hand  on  the  old  man's  sleeve.  "  And  after- 
ward, good  shepherd,"  he  urged  timidly — "what 
happened  afterward?" 

The  shepherd  dropped  his  arms  and  fixed  his 
dim  eyes  upon  the  child.  "  Who  and  what  art 
thou  ?"  he  said  faintly.  "  Art  one  of  them — or  do 
I  but  dream  of  the  angels  ?  For  the  shining  ones 
went  away  again  into  heaven,  one  and  all, — ay, 
they  went  away.  And  though  I  have  longed  and 
prayed  during  all  these  weary  years  for  but  a 
whisper  of  the  celestial  voices  the  door  is  fast  shut. 
And  the  babe  ?  Ah,  dear  God,  it  was  peace,  good- 
will that  he  brought  to  men,  but  men  would  none 
of  it ;  and  few  believed  our  witness  of  the  things 
which  had  come  to  pass.  '  There  was  no  angel,' 


THE  SHEPHERD' 'S  STORY,  37 

they  said,  and  laughed  us  to  scorn.  '  As  for  the 
babe,  he  is  but  the  son  of  a  carpenter.' 

"Alas,  alas,  for  babe  and  mother  !  Alas,  for  the 
tree  of  blood — the  accursed  tree  !  But  hark  you, 
child,  and  remember  what  I  shall  say  to  thee  is 
God's  own  truth.  The  babe  of  Bethlehem  was  the 
Messiah  of  Israel,  the  Anointed  of  Jehovah ;  and 
of  yonder  guilty  city,  Jerusalem,  will  God  require 
his  blood  !  Ay,  the  avenging  sword  of  Jehovah  of 
Hosts  hangs  above  it  like  a  devouring  flame !  I 
saw  the  Prince  of  Heaven  wrapped  in  swaddling- 
clothes  and  lying  in  the  manger,  even  as  the  angel 
declared  unto  us.  / — I  in  the  flesh  !  And  I  bear 
witness  that  it  is  true — true — all  true  !" 

"What,  raving  yet,  dotard?"  cried  a  harsh 
voice.  "  Come,  have  done  with  thy  senile  madness 
and  drive  up  the  flock  from  beyond  the  stream. 
Sacred  fire  !  but  thou  hast  frightened  the  ewes  from 
their  pasture  !  Who  is  this  ?"  And  the  owner  of 
the  voice,  a  big  burly  shepherd,  turned  suddenly 
upon  Phannias. 

"  I  pray  thee  to  leave  the  little  one  in  peace," 
besought  the  old  shepherd  earnestly,  laying  a  pro- 
tecting hand  on  the  child's  head.  "  Jehovah  hath 
sent  him  that  he  might  hear  my  true  witness  of  the 
things  that  have  happened  in  this  place.  He  will 
also  witness  to  the  truth,  as  I  have  told  it  to  him, 
when  I  shall  go  hence." 

"Jehovah  smite  me,"  roared  the  other,  "but  I 
hope  that  will  be  soon  !  Get  thee  about  thy  busi- 


38  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

ness,  dotard  !"  With  that  he  raised  his  thick  oaken 
staff  and  shook  it  threateningly  in  the  old  man's 
face. 

The  aged  shepherd  staggered  back  as  though 
he  had  received  a  mortal  wound,  and  with  a  low 
gasping  cry  fell  to  the  ground. 

"  I  did  not  strike  him — I  swear  I  did  not  strike 
him  !"  cried  the  other,  aghast  at  the  effect  of  his 
brutal  words.  "  Thou  knowest,  boy,  that  I  did  but 
remind  the  laggard  of  his  duty  !" 

But  Phannias  neither  heard  nor  heeded.  He 
was  bending  over  the  fallen  shepherd.  "  Water — 
quick  !"  he  cried  in  an  agony,  for  even  to  his 
childish  eyes  the  look  on  the  gray,  worn  face  was 
not  to  be  mistaken. 

The  old  man's  eyes  opened ;  they  were  full  and 
bright,  like  the  eyes  of  youth.  "  The  angels  !"  he 
cried  once  in  a  loud,  exultant  voice — and  was  silent. 

An  hour  later  Rachel  and  Ben  Huna  found  the 
child  ;  he  was  sitting  flat  upon  the  ground,  holding 
the  shepherd's  head  upon  his  knees,  his  face  not 
less  white  than  the  peaceful  face  of  the  dead.  He 
looked  up  at  them  with  a  radiant  smile.  "  He  saw 
the  angels,"  he  whispered.  "  It  is  true — true — all 
true!" 


THE  CHILD  AND  THE  LAW.  39 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE   CHILD    AND   THE    LAW. 

PHANNIAS  opened  his  eyes  the  next  morning 
with  the  earliest  twitter  of  half-awakened 
birds,  to  find  the  dawn  flooding  the  white  walls  of 
his  chamber  with  rosy  light,  while  the  blossoming 
boughs  of  the  great  almond  tree  just  outside  his 
window  stirred  fragrantly  in  the  fresh  breeze.  The 
child  had  slept  dreamlessly,  and  his  soul  unfolded 
like  a  flower  to  greet  the  rising  sun.  Springing 
from  his  bed  he  lifted  his  face  to  the  glowing  heav- 
ens, repeating  softly  the  beautiful  prayer  to  the 
Creator  of  light  with  which  every  devout  Israelite 
was  wont  to  greet  the  new  day  : 

"  Blessed  art  thou,  O  Lord,  our  God,  King  of  the  universe ! 
Who  Greatest  light  and  formest  darkness  ! 
In  mercy  thou  causest  the  light  to  shine  upon  the  earth 

and  the  inhabitants  thereof, 

And  in  goodness  renewest  every  day  the  work  of  creation ! 
Blessed  art  thou,  Creator  of  light !" 

The  world  was  so  beautiful,  thought  the  child, 
in  a  rapture  of  gratitude.  He  remembered,  with  a 
sudden  bounding  of  the  heart,  the  strange  story  of 
the  shepherd. 

"  It  is  true  !"  he  said  joyfully.      "  He  saw  the 


40  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

angels ;  and  last  night  they  took  him,  because  he 
was  poor  and  old  and  lonely." 

Full  of  these  thoughts  and  eager  to  know  more 
of  the  wonderful  babe,  angel-heralded,  yet  so  meanly 
cradled  in  the  ruinous  old  inn,  the  child  flew  to  the 
door  of  his  chamber.  He  was  met  at  the  threshold 
by  his  mother,  pallid,  sad,  her  eyes  swollen  as  if 
from  sleeplessness  and  prolonged  weeping. 

"Mother!"  he  cried  aghast,  "mother!"  and 
would  have  thrown  his  arms  about  her  neck,  but 
she  repulsed  him  gently. 

"Thou  must  remain  within  thy  chamber,  my 
son,"  she  said  gravely,  "  till  the  hour  is  come  for 
thy  departure  for  Jerusalem." 

"But  why " 

"  I  cannot  talk  with  thee ;  it  is  forbidden.  Thou 
hast  touched  the  unholy  dead,  and  art  thyself  un- 
holy and  polluted.  Alas,  thou  hast  broken  thy 
vow  !  Abase  thyself  before  an  angry  Jehovah,  for 
thou  hast  grievously  trespassed  against  his  holy 
law." 

An  hour  later,  lying  prone  upon  the  earthen 
floor  of  his  chamber,  crushed  beneath  a  load  of 
misery,  immense,  heart-breaking,  intolerable,  Phan- 
nias  became  dimly  aware  of  a  clamor  of  voices 
without." 

"  Woe,  woe  !"  wailed  the  voices.  "  Heaviness 
is  come  upon  this  house,  and  mourning  doth  cover  it 
like  a  garment !  For  the  law — the  law  of  Jehovah 
is  broken  ;  his  statutes  are  defiled  and  trodden  under 


THE  CHILD  AND  THE  LAW.  41 

foot.  Verily,  we  had  hoped  for  a  blessing  because 
of  this  child  !  We  had  expected  great  things  of 
Jehovah  because  of  the  undefiled  !  But  now  is  his 
body  polluted ;  his  vow  also  hath  he  despised  and 
set  at  naught.  Woe  !  Woe  !" 

Phannias  held  his  sobbing  breath  to  listen.  He 
had  heard  sounds  like  this  but  once  before  in  his 
short  life  ;  that  was  when  the  son  of  their  neighbor 
had  died  of  a  fever,  and  the  mourners  had  bewailed 
him  during  thrice  seven  days.  He  covered  his  ears 
with  his  hands  to  shut  out  the  gruesome  clamor, 
only  to  hear  his  mother's  parting  words :  "Thou 
hast  touched  the  unholy  dead,  and  art  thyself  un- 
holy and  polluted." 

He  sprang  to  his  feet  in  a  sudden  frenzy  of  grief, 
and  laying  hold  of  his  linen  tunic  tore  it  in  an  in- 
stant from  top  to  bottom.  This  rending  of  one's 
garments,  he  had  been  told,  was  a  peculiarly  pious 
act,  well  pleasing  to  God ;  it  signally  displayed 
one's  contempt  for  self,  and  a  holy  indifference  to 
bodily  comfort  which  could  not  fail  to  gratify  the 
always  observant  deity.  That  it  furnished  a  certain 
relief  to  overcharged  feelings  the  child  straightway 
discovered,  and  tore  again  and  again  at  his  clothing 
till  it  hung  in  ribbons  about  his  body. 

Somewhat  calmed  by  this  religious  rite,  he  pres- 
ently ventured  to  peep  out  through  the  lattice,  and 
was  overwhelmed  afresh  with  poignant  humiliation 
to  behold  the  ten  Batlanin  and  the  ruler  of  the 
synagogue,  in  company  with  certain  pious  women 


42  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

of  the  village,  all  beating  dolorously  upon  their 
breasts,  and  casting  the  earth  of  his  mother's  garden 
upon  their  uncovered  heads ;  the  chanting  going 
on  meanwhile  with  undiminished  vigor. 

"  They  would  not  do  this  thing  for  Jacob,  the 
potter's  son,"  muttered  Phannias,  shaken  with 
unreasoning  anger;  "as  for  David,  the  herds- 
man's son,  he  may  do  what  he  will  and  there 
is  no  one  of  them  all  to  cry  in  his  ears,  'The 
Law, — The  Law  ;'  I  would  that  I  were  a  boy,  and 
not  a  Nazarite." 

Smitten  with  instant  remorse,  he  fell  to  repeating 
the  psalms  and  prayers  of  the  synagogue  service 
with  zeal  and  energy,  resolutely  closing  his  ears 
to  the  dismal  noises  without ;  this  took  a  long  time. 
Later  he  discovered  that  he  was  hungry.  As  the 
slow  hours  of  the  morning  dragged  out  their  weary 
tale  of  minutes,  the  child  concluded  that  his  mother 
had  forgotten  him,  and  this  thought  was  so  terrible 
that  he  fell  to  weeping  again. 

Rachel  had  not  forgotten  her  disgraced  child. 
His  painful  sobbing  pierced  her  tender  soul.  She 
longed  to  carry  the  burden  of  his  sin  on  her  own 
strong  shoulders,  to  comfort  him  in  her  warm  arms, 
to  fetch  him  food  and  drink,  lovingly  prepared  by 
her  own  hands  ;  and  all  this  she  would  have  been 
swift  to  do,  had  she  been  left  to  follow  the  instincts 
of  her  heart.  But  in  vowing  her  child  to  the  ser- 
vice of  God  she  now  discovered  that  she  had 
bound  him  to  the  altar  of  sacrifice,  while  Israel, 


THE  CHILD  AND  THE  LA  W.  43 

stern  priest  of  Jehovah,  already  stretched  forth  an 
authoritative  hand  toward  the  victim. 

Before  dawn  the  ruler  of  the  synagogue  and  the 
Batlanin,  together  with  certain  rigid  and  unbending 
"mothers  in  Israel,"  had  gathered  at  the  widow's 
house  to  bewail  with  her,  and  to  counsel,  direct  and 
restrain  her  in  this  the  sad  hour  of  her  affliction. 
They  decided  in  solemn  conclave  that  the  disgraced 
Nazarite  must  fast  from  sunrise  to  sunset  during 
thfee  days ;  and,  further,  that  he  must  be  left  in 
absolute  solitude  until  the  day  of  his  separation, 
when  Ben  Huna  should  take  him  up  to  Jerusalem 
to  receive  the  prescribed  cleansings  with  the  bitter 
waters  of  purification.  The  conduct  of  the  remain- 
ing ceremonials  necessary  to  restore  him  to  the  holy 
state  of  the  Nazarite, "from  which  he  had  so  griev- 
ously fallen  away,  they  left  to  the  care  of  the  learned 
rabbi. 

The  good  Ben  Huna  was  profoundly  disturbed 
by  the  grave  misfortune  which  had  befallen  his 
favorite.  He  was,  indeed,  disposed  to  take  upon 
himself  the  reproach  of  the  whole  matter.  "  It  is 
I  who  have  erred,"  he  said,  "and  in  no  small  meas- 
ure ;  I  should  have  told  the  lad  the  whole  story  of 
the  false  Messiah.  Alas,  that  angelic  innocence 
must  learn  the  dark  ways  of  earth  !" — and  he  shook 
his  gray  head  mournfully.  "  I  had  the  intent  to 
explain  the  matter  in  good  time ;  but  in  truth  I 
wished  first  to  consider  in  mine  own  heart  how  best 
to  reveal  to  him  that  certain,  even  from  the  blessed 


44  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

fold  of  Israel,  have  gone  astray  after  the  man.  For 
all  of  these  things  must  the  boy  learn,  that  he  may 
also  teach  others  to  distinguish  betwixt  the  true  and 
the  false." 

The  ruler  of  the  synagogue  frowned  and  plucked 
angrily  at  his  beard.  "  It  was  a  dark  day  for  Beth- 
lehem yonder — ay,  and  for  Jerusalem,  and  for  all 
Israel — when  the  Galilean  carpenter  came  thither 
with  his  wife,"  he  said  in  a  loud  voice.  "  Verily, 
I  have  it  on  good  authority  that  there  be  many  in 
the  town  below  who  do  secretly  believe  the  idle 
tale  bruited  abroad  by  the  shepherds,  and  that 
despite  the  accursed  end  of  the  Nazarene  !" 

"  It  was  a  strange  story,  neighbor,  say  what  you 
will,"  ventured  one  of  the  Batlanin,  pursing  up  his 
mouth.  "  I  have  heard  my  father  declare  that  the 
man,  Joseph,  and  his  wife  tarried  in  the  khan  dur- 
ing twoscore  days  after  the  birth  of  the  child. 
There  was  no  end  to  the  wonderful  sayings  noised 
abroad  concerning  the  child  and  his  mother.  I 
remember  me  well  how  that " 

"'T  were  best  forgotten,  son  of  Abraham,"  in- 
terrupted the  ruler  of  the  synagogue,  with  an  au- 
thoritative wave  of  the  hand  ;  "  — ay,  best  forgotten. 
Let  us  the  rather  remember  that  Jehovah  brought 
confusion  upon  the  Nazarene  and  upon  multitudes 
of  his  deluded  followers.  Yea,  even  Nero,  the  sin- 
ful ruler  of  the  Gentiles,  hath  of  late  become  a 
scourge  in  the  hands  of  an  offended  God  to  utterly 
destroy  them  that  confess  the  accursed  name  in 


THE  CHILD  AND  THE  LAW.  45 

Rome.  It  were  well  also  to  remember  that  this  is 
a  house  of  mourning  because  of  the  false  prophet." 

It  was  decided  that  Jabez,  the  aged  keeper  of 
the  inn  at  Bethlehem,  should  be  visited  and  sternly 
admonished  against  a  repetition  of  his  offence.  He 
had  been  more  than  once  forbidden  to  recount  the 
story  of  the  birth  in  the  manger,  it  having  been  long 
since  decided  by  the  sapient  authorities  in  Jerusalem 
that  legends  and  stones  relating  to  the  life  and  say- 
ings of  the  malefactor,  Jesus,  were  blasphemous, 
and  therefore  unlawful. 

Toward  evening  these  excellent  neighbors  left 
Rachel  alone  in  her  house.  With  trembling  hands 
she  made  haste  to  prepare  the  poor  food  she  was 
allowed  to  offer  her  child,  shutting  her  eyes  to  the 
fact  that  the  sun  was  yet  an  hour  above  the  western 
horizon. 

"He  is  but  a  babe,"  she  whispered  to  herself; 
"  and,  after  all,  it  was  I  who  made  the  vow  when  the 
poor  child  knew  nothing  of  it.  Jehovah  impute 
the  sin  to  me.  An  infringement  more  or  less  can 
make  little  difference  to  any  one  of  us  who  has 
grown  old  under  the  law." 

Treading  softly  lest  she  disturb  the  meditations 
of  "the  separated,"  she  approached  the  door  of  his 
chamber.  Phannias  was  curled  up  in  the  window- 
seat,  his  face  pressed  close  against  the  lattice.  Some- 
thing in  his.  attitude  reminded  the  mother  painfully 
of  an  imprisoned  bird  clinging  to  the  bars  of  its 
cage.  She  hastily  set  down  the  loaf  and  the  pitcher 


46  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

of  water  and  was  about  to .  withdraw  noiselessly 
when  the  child  turned  his  head. 

"Mother,"  he  said  softly,  fixing  his  great  eyes 
upon  her  face,  "  where  is  the  Messiah  ?  I  wish  to 
go  to  him ;  I  wish  to  tell  him  just  how  it  all  hap- 
pened ;  I  know  that  he  will  not  be  angry  with  me. 
The  shepherd  had  seen  the  Prince,  thou  knowest ; 
he  told  me  how  the  angels  came  down  from  heaven 
and  sang — thousands  upon  thousands  of  them  ! 
And  one  angel,  brighter  than  them  all,  declared 
that  the  Messiah  had  come,  and  that  they  would 
find  him  wrapped  in  swaddling-clothes  and  lying  in 
a  manger.  And,  oh  mother,  they  did  find  him  !  I 
have  seen  the  very  spot  where  he  lay  in  the  khan 
yonder — so  cold  and  dark  a  place,  with  the  manger 
cut  from  the  rock  of  the  hillside  !  The  shepherd 
was  old  and  lonely,  dearest  mother ;  I  think  the 
angels  took  him  away  with  them.  If  I  should  tell 
this  to  the  Prince,  surely  he  would  forgive " 

Rachel  raised  her  hand  imperatively,  the  while 
she  sternly  repressed  a  desire  to  take  the  child  in 
her  arms  and  cover  his  beautiful  serious  face  with 
kisses.  Never  had  he  seemed  more  holy,  never 
more  angelically  pure,  than  at  this  moment,  when 
the  law  declared  him  unclean,  unholy,  polluted. 
What  if  the  law  was  wrong?  She  thrust  the 
thought  from  her  with  instant  self-reproach. 

"  My  son,"  she  said  sorrowfully,  "  I  cannot  talk 
with  thee  now  of  this  matter ;  but  thinkest  thou  if 
Messiah  had  come  we  would  have  kept  thee  in  ig- 


THE  CHILD  AND  THE  LAW.  47 

norance  of  it  these  ten  years  of  thy  life  ?  To-mor- 
row the  good  rabbi,  thy  master,  will  take  thee  to 
Jerusalem,  there  to  be  cleansed  of  thy  grievous  pol- 
lution ;  and  where  haply  thou  mayest  be  permitted 
to  renew  thy  vows  before  the  merciful  God  of 
Israel.  Ben  Huna  will  tell  thee  all  that  is  best  for 
thee  to  know  of  the  man  called  Jesus  of  Nazareth, 
who  unhappily  saw  the  light  in  yonder  city  of 
David.  Think  no  more  of  the  wild  tale  of  the 
shepherd,  but  dwell  only  on  thy  guilt,  that  thou 
mayest  purge  thy  soul  before  God,  to  the  end  that 
he  graciously  restore  thee  to  his  favor." 

"  But  why  may  I  not  already  be  forgiven,  my 
mother  ?"  asked  the  child,  laying  a  caressing  little 
hand  upon  her  robe  ;  "  I  have  repeated  the  Sabbath 
psalms  thrice  over,  the  commandments  also  and 
the  benedictions,  the  Hallel,  and " 

"Alas,  my  son !"  cried  the  mother  in  poignant 
distress,  "  he  who  lifts  polluted  hands  to  Jehovah 
hath  committed  a  deadly  sin  ! — But  the  sin  is  mine, 
since  I  did  not  warn  thee,"  she  made  haste  to  add, 
seeing  the  deadly  pallor  that  stole  over  her  child's 
face.  "  Look,  I  will  fetch  sackcloth  straightway 
and  ashes,  that  thou  mayest  abase  thyself.  I  also 
will  lie  in  sackcloth,  and  cry  unto  God  all  the  night 
for  thee  and  me." 

An  hour  later,  when  Rachel  crept  quietly  to  the 
chamber  of  her  son,  bearing  the  symbols  of  woe, 
she  found  him  quietly  asleep  upon  his  bed.  Tears 
hung  on  his  long  lashes,  but  he  smiled  as  he  slept. 


48  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

She  could  not  know  that  the  black  mists  of  the 
day's  sordid  sorrow  had  lifted,  and  anon  became 
radiant  with  angelic  figures,  mingling  and  inter- 
mingling in  cloudy  glory,  shining  rank  upon  shin- 
ing rank,  wing  folded  to  wing ;  while  sweet  and  far 
the  melodious  thunder  of  trumpets  preluded  the 
triumphant  chorus  of  "  Peace  on  earth  !  Good-will 
to  men !" 

Half-ashamed — though  why  she  knew  not — the 
woman  spread  the  rough  sackcloth  over  the  round 
limbs  of  the  sleeper,  and  strewed  the  ashes,  sad 
symbols  of  sin  and  impurity,  on  the  fair  young 
head.  But  in  his  dreams  the  angels  sang  on. 


AT  THE  FOUNTAIN.  49 


CHAPTER  V. 

AT   THE    FOUNTAIN. 

DURING  the  short  journey  from  Bethlehem  to 
the  holy  city  it  seemed  to  Phannias  that 
Ben  Huna,  his  kind,  affectionate  master,  had  under- 
gone a  terrible  transformation  ;  that  he  had  become, 
in  effect,  The  Law  itself — stern,  pitiless,  unloving. 
The  child  hung  his  head  as  he  walked  apart,  slow 
tears  of  misery  forcing  their  way  from  beneath  his 
swollen  eyelids.  He  understood  in  the  fulness  of 
its  bitterness  what  it  meant  to  be  "  separated."  The 
days  spent  in  his  little  chamber  had  been  long  and 
lonely,  but  he  now  wished  that  he  might  have  re- 
mained there  forever. 

As  the  two,  walking  slowly  as  befitted  so  solemn 
an  occasion,  passed  through  the  village  streets, 
curious  eyes  stared  at  them  from  doors  and 
windows  ;  wayfarers  drew  aside  with  ostentatious 
care  to  give  them  room  ;  while  Jacob,  the  potter's 
son,  busy  gathering  sticks  for  his  mother's  fire, 
paused  in  his  occupation  long  enough  to  cry  out 
derisively  : 

"  Ah-i,  Nazarite !  Who  now  is  so  much  holier 
and  wiser  than  others  ?  Thou  art  unclean  as  yonder 
dog— ah-i !" 

4 


50  THE  CROSS  TEIUMPHAXT. 

Phannias'  eyes  flashed  and  his  brown  fists 
clenched  themselves.  "  Raca  !"  he  muttered  ; 
"  what  knows  he  of  the  law  !" 

As  for  Ben  Huna,  he  lifted  his  staff  threateningly, 
vowing  in  his  heart  of  hearts  that  upon  his  return 
not  only  the  strap  but  also  the  rod  should  be  visited 
upon  the  son  of  the  potter,  and  that  to  the  limit  of 
the  law.  The  worthy  rabbi  was  secretly  overflow- 
ing with  compassion  for  his  charge,  but  he  consid- 
ered that  the  abundant  nature  of  the  child  needed 
pruning,  and  what  better  instrument  for  the  purpose 
than  the  sharp  blade  of  the  law  ?  He  resolved 
therefore  to  omit  no  smallest  detail  in  the  impres- 
sive ceremonial  of  legal  purification,  and  to  vigor- 
ously enforce  the  last  requirement  of  the  Mosaic 
Code  and  the  Talmud.  For  the  time  being  he  reso- 
lutely forced  down  both  his  sympathies  and  his 
affections  behind  the  strong  wall  of  rabbinical  pre- 
cept and  tradition. 

He  briefly  explained  to  his  pupil,  in  cold,  meas- 
ured tones,  that  inasmuch  as  he  had  been  polluted 
with  the  foul  and  terrible  uncleanness  of  death — 
which  was  in  truth  the  last  appalling  consequence 
of  sin,  and  therefore  doubly  abhorrent  to  the  pure 
and  deathless  Jehovah — he  must  walk,  eat  and 
sleep,  solitary  and  alone,  during  the  seven  days  of 
his  separation.  He  added  that  when  the  days  were 
accomplished  he  would  relate  to  him  the  history  of 
the  false  Messiah — a  story  which  it  was  painful  to 
recall,  but  which  was  assuredly  instructive,  since  it 


AT  THE  FO  UNTAIN.  5 1 

furnished  undeniable  proof  of  Jehovah's  abiding 
wrath  upon  them  that  trespassed  against  the  laws 
of  Moses. 

To  all  of  which  Phannias  listened  in  meek 
silence. 

When  at  midday  the  pair  approached  Jerusalem, 
despite  his  present  misery  and  his  vague  apprehen- 
sions for  the  future,  the  child's  eyes  brightened  as 
they  rested  upon  the  magnificent  city,  lying  white 
and  beautiful  as  a  holy  dream  in  the  arms  of  its 
green,  encircling  hills. 

Ben  Huna  straightened  himself  exultantly. 
"Awake,  awake!"  he  cried  aloud;  "put  on  thy 
strength,  O  Zion  !  Put  on  thy  beautiful  garments, 
O  Jerusalem,  the  holy  city;  for  henceforth  there 
shall  no  more  come  into  thee  the  uncircumcised 
and  the  unclean.  Shake  thyself  from  the  dust  and 
arise,  O  Jerusalem  !  Loose  thyself  from  the  bands 
of  thy  neck,  O  captive  daughter  of  Zion  !" 

The  head  of  Phannias  sank  upon  his  breast.  It 
seemed  to  him  that  the  distant  temple  gleamed 
coldly  from  awful,  unattainable  heights  of  holiness, 
steep  as  high  heaven.  He  buried  his  face  in  his 
hands,  feeling  to  the  least  atom  of  his  small, 
wretched  body  that  he  was  unworthy  even  to  look 
upon  "the  city  of  solemnities." 

Ben  Huna's  eyes  dwelt  proudly  upon  the  bowed 
head.  "He  understands,"  he  thought,  "as  no 
other  child  of  them  all  could  understand  ;" — and 
reflected,  not  without  satisfaction,  on  the  hour  when 


52  THE  CROSS  TKIUMP1IAXT. 

he  should  bring  the  beautiful  boy  into  the  temple 
before  the  eyes  of  the  great  rabbins  and  doctors  of 
the  law. 

"  Remain  here,  my  child,"  he  said,  insensibly  re- 
lapsing into  his  tone  of  affectionate  comradeship ; 
"  I  will  go  into  the  city  and  fetch  the  water  of  sep- 
aration, that  thou  mayest  receive  the  first  sprinkling 
at  my  hands.  While  I  am  absent  thou  mayest  eat 
bread,  and  drink  from  the  spring  yonder." 

Phannias  had  no  wish  to  eat,  but  the  cool  ripple 
of  the  fountain  drew  him  to  its  brink.  It  was  a 
quiet  spot,  quiet  and  green  and  cool.  After  a  time 
the  child  ventured  to  dip  his  burning  forehead  into 
the  sparkling  water,  which  welled  up,  clear  as  air, 
in  its  worn  limestone  basin,  to  slip  away  to  the  val- 
ley amid  a  lush  tangle  of  grass  and  brilliant  flowers. 
Overhead,  in  the  rosy  thicket  of  wild  almond  and 
pomegranate,  a  bird  called  aloud.  A  butterfly, 
fanning  lazily  by,  dropped  softly  to  his  motionless 
brown  hand  and  rested  there  for  an  instant,  its  jew- 
eled wings  waving  slowly  in  the  warm  sunshine. 
Phannias  sighed,  a  long  sigh  of  relief  and  happiness; 
for  the  moment  the  cold,  inexorable  face  of  The 
Law  withdrew  itself  behind  a  veil  of  love  and  beauty. 

A  woman,  ascending  with  her  water-jar  from  the 
village  below  the  spring,  stopped  short  on  behold- 
ing the  gleam  of  white  drapery  between  the  green 
leaves.  She  leaned  forward,  noiselessly  parting  the 
branches,  that  she  might  obtain  a  better  view  of  the 
wayfarer. 


AT  THE  FOUNTAIN.  53 

"A  child  !"  she  said  to  herself,  with  a  smile  at 
her  caution,  and  came  briskly  forward. 

Phannias  lifted  his  eyes  at  her  approach.  "  Peace 
be  with  thee,"  he  said  simply  ;  then  bethinking 
himself,  he  drew  back.  "  I — I  am  unclean  !"  he 
stammered. 

The  woman  stared  aghast.  "  Surely  not  a 
leper?"  she  cried. 

Phannias  shook  his  head.  "  I  have  broken  the 
law,"  he  said  mournfully.  "  I  am  a  Nazarite.  I 
have  touched  the  dead." 

The  woman  lifted  her  eyes  in  pity  and  amaze. 
"  Dear  Lord,  who  also  died  and  art  alive  again," 
she  murmured,  as  if  to  some  unseen  bystander, 
"  surely  the  child  is  clean  in  thy  sight ! — Where  dost 
thou  dwell,  little  one?"  she  asked,  setting  down  her 
pitcher  and  advancing  to  the  rim  of  the  fountain ; 
"and  how  earnest  thou  to  break  thy  vow?" 

The  voice  of  the  questioner  was  low  and  sweet. 
Phannias,  regarding  her  with  shy  curiosity,  observed 
that  when  she  smiled  her  eyes  shone  with  a  gentle 
radiance  pleasant  to  behold.  Insensibly  he  drew 
nearer,  that  he  might  warm  his  chilled  heart  in  the 
genial  glow. 

"It  was  the  shepherd  who  died,"  he  said,  half 
under  his  breath.  "  He  told  me  a  strange  story  of 
angels  who  came  to  the  earth  to  sing  of  peace  and 
good-will — a  long  time  ago.  There  was  a  babe 
born  in  the  khan  at  Bethlehem.  I  saw  the  place 
where  it  lay,  wrapped  in  swaddling-clothes." 


54  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

He  stopped  short  to  look  at  the  woman  ;  she  had 
uttered  some  inarticulate  sound,  which  he  took 
to  be  an  expression  of  anger  or  reproof.  "  Yes, 
I  know  that  thou  wilt  say  it  is  not  true,"  he  said 
quickly.  "  No  one  believes  it,  the  shepherd  him- 
self said  so.  It  was  that,  I  think,  that  made  him 
sick  and  sad — yes,  and  killed  him  at  the  last  like  a 
blow." 

"  But  I  do  believe  it !"  cried  the  woman,  her  face 
shining  with  so  wonderful  a  light  that  Phannias 
stared  at  her  in  silent  astonishment.  "  It  is  all 
quite  true  !"  After  a  little  time  she  turned  her 
deep  eyes  full  upon  the  child.  "  Did  the  shepherd 
tell  thee  the  name  of  the  babe  who  lay  in  the 
manger?"  she  asked,  smiling  into  his  serious  face. 

"  He  said,"  whispered  Phannias,  "that  the  babe 
was  the  Messiah  !" 

"  Ay,  verily !  and  who  should  know  this  better 
than  he  to  whom  the  angel  of  the  Lord  declared  it 
face  to  face.  And  did  he  tell  thee  what  happened 
afterward?" 

The  child's  sensitive  face  quivered.  "  The  shep- 
herd died,"  he  said,  looking  away  toward  Jerusa- 
lem; "  I  could  not  ask  him  more.  But  Ben  Huna, 
the  wise  rabbi,  who  also  is  my  master,  said  that  the 
babe  grew  to  be  a  man — a  carpenter,  in  the  village 
of  Nazareth  ;  and  that  he  kept  the  law  until  one 
John,  a  wild  hermit  out  of  the  desert,  aroused  the 
people  with  strange  ravings  of  a  coming  Messiah. 
In  those  days  the  carpenter,  whose  name  was  Jesus, 


AT  THE  FOUNTAIN.  55 

V 

also  arose  and  went  about  among  the  people,  work- 
ing pretended  marvels  and  teaching  unlawful  things. 
I — I  do  not  yet  know  what  became  of  him ;  my 
master  will — will  tell  me  afterward,"  he  faltered, 
shrinking  back  before  the  sudden  fire  of  wrath  that 
leapt  up  in  the  eyes  of  the  woman. 

"  I  am  not  angry  with  thee,  child,"  she  said 
passionately,  "but  only  with  the  wise  rabbi,  as 
thou  callest  him,  who  hath  told  thee  the  half-truth, 
more  accursed  than  a  lie,  which  withers  in  the  telling. 
Look  at  me,  child,  and  listen  well ! — He  would 
have  loved  such  an  one  as  thou  ;  and  thou — ah,  if 
thou  couldst  but  see  him  !  I  knew  this  Jesus  when 
he  lived  upon  earth,  and  I  declare  unto  thee  God's 
truth  concerning  him,  as  did  also  the  shepherd  in 
his  last  hour  upon  earth.  He  was  verily  the  Prom- 
ised of  Israel,  royal  Prince  of  David,  born  in  David's 
city,  according  to  the  ancient  promise. 

"  It  is  true  that  he  lived  in  Nazareth  and  labored 
with  his  hands,  meek,  obedient  to  the  law  as  thou 
thyself;  but  when  his  time  was  come  he  received 
baptism  from  the  hands  of  John  and  from  on  high. 
Afterward  he  went  about  among  the  poor,  the  sick, 
the  afflicted,  proclaiming  the  love  and  mercy  of  the 
Father ;  healing  the  lame,  the  blind,  the  leprous, 
with  word  or  touch,  and  even  raising  them  that 
were  dead  to  life  again.  Yes,  it  is  true  !  And  I 
speak  not  of  things  which  I  have  heard  only,  but 
of  things  which  I  have  seen — ay,  seen  and  touched 
and  handled.  I  am  Mary,  of  Bethany— in  the 


56  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

wooded  hollow  yonder.  Jesus  of  Nazareth  was 
our  friend — our  own  familiar  friend  ;  he  tarried  with 
us  often."  She  paused,  smiling  dreamily,  as  one 
whom  the  impetuous  current  of  her  thought  had 
carried  far  away  into  some  sweet  day  of  the  past. 

"  Our  own  familiar  friend — our  dear,  familiar 
friend,"  she  repeated  the  words  softly,  caressingly ; 
then  sighed  and  smiled,  and  sighed  again.  "  My 
brother,  Lazarus,  fell  ill,"  she  said,  her  deep  eyes 
bent  upon  the  gurgling  water.  "  We  sent  for  our 
friend,  Jesus,  once, — twice, — thrice  ;  but  he  tarried. 
I  could  not  understand  ;  I  knew  that  he  loved  my 
brother — that  he  loved  us  all.  Lazarus  died  at 
dawn  of  the  third  day.  My  sister  and  I  watched 
beside  his  body.  '  He  will  come  at  noon/  I  said. 
But  the  sun  looked  down  from  mid-heaven,  and  there 
was  neither  word  nor  sign.  '  He  will  surely  come 
before  evening  !'  wailed  my  sister.  But  he  came  not. 

"At  sunset  we  buried  our  dead.  They  rolled 
the  stone  before  the  door  of  the  tomb.  All  was 
now  ended — finished.  He  had  not  come.  Others 
of  our  friends  and  acquaintance  gathered  about  us  ; 
the  mourning  went  on  drearily  through  the  long 
hours.  He  did  not  come.  Four  long,  black  days, 
and  still  he  did  not  come.  My  heart  grew  sick  in 
my  bosom  and,  at  the  last,  lay  cold  and  heavy  as 
the  dead,  bound  in  his  grave-clothes.  When  one 
told  us,  'Behold  the  Master  is  at  hand/  I  could 
not  rise  to  meet  him.  '  Nay,  he  loved  us  not/  I 
said  ;  '  I  will  not  look  upon  his  face.' 


A T  THE  FO  UNTAIN.  5 7 

"  My  sister,  Martha,  stronger  or  more  faithful 
than  I,  went  out  to  meet  him.  Anon  she  returned, 
her  face  aglow.  '  The  Master  is  come,'  she  whis- 
pered urgently  ;  '  he  calleth  for  thee.' 

"  At  that  word  my  sick  heart  leapt  in  my  bosom. 
I  rose  up  and  slipped  away  with  all  haste.  I  saw 
him  !  Ah,  he  knew  all ;  he  loved  us  !  Yet  I  fell 
down  at  his  feet  straightway  and  cried  out  the  bitter 
thought  that  had  devoured  my  soul  in  secret,  dur- 
ing the  long  hours  of  watching  and  weeping  :  '  Lord, 
if  thou  hadst  been  here  my  brother  had  not  died !' 

"I  reproached  him  to  his  face — the  Lord  of 
glory !  Blinded  with  bitter  tears  I  could  no  longer 
see  him,  but  I  knew  that  he  was  weeping,  that  he 
asked,  '  Where  have  ye  laid  him  ?' 

"Some  one — my  sister,  I  think — raised  me  to 
my  feet.  'What  need,'  I  whispered,  'to  look  upon 
his  tomb  !'  Others  also  of  our  friends  who  followed 
us  said  openly,  '  Could  not  He  which  opened  the 
eyes  of  the  blind  have  caused  that  even  this  man 
should  not  have  died?'  " 

The  low  passionate  voice  trembled  into  silence  ; 
the  dark  eyes  were  fixed  upon  a  green  hillside 
which  rose  from  the  wooded  hollow  near  the  village. 

Phannias'  gaze  followed  ;  he  perceived  that  the 
sunny  slope,  niched  with  gray,  rough-hewn  slabs, 
was  no  other  than  the  place  of  tombs — a  place  of 
dread,  they  had  taught  him,  death-polluted,  demon- 
haunted,  to  be  feared  and  shunned  above  all  other 
plague-spots  of  the  evil  earth.  He  stared  curiously 


$8  ~  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

at  the  woman.  She  was  not  weeping  ;  she  seemed 
not  even  sad ;  the  wide  eyes  brimmed  over  with 
the  strange  radiance  which  he  had  observed  upon 
her  face  as  she  spoke  of  the  shepherds.  It  was 
assuredly  a  strange  world — the  child  decided — 
wherein  they  wept  who  should  laugh,  and  rejoiced 
who  should  the  rather  lament.  He  sighed  deeply. 

"  An  over  sad  tale  for  young  ears,  sayst  thou, 
little  one  ?"  Phannias  looked  up  ;  the  woman  was 
regarding  him  steadily.  The  strange  lovely  light 
had  spread  over  all  her  face  now,  so  that  it  glowed 
like  a  rich  landscape  beneath  the  summer  sun. 
"  Yet  not  sad,  as  thou  shalt  hear,  but  most  beauti- 
ful, most  wonderful,  most  happy.  So  it  seems  to 
me  as  I  tell  it — and  I  have  told  it  many  times  since 
then. 

"Thouseest  the  hillside  yonder — the  place  of 
tombs  ;  and  thou  art  not  ignorant  concerning  them 
that  enter,  pale  and  silent,  into  the  black  door  of 
the  sepulcher,  how  that  they  come  forth  no  more 
into  the  light  ?  Yet  I  say  to  thee  with  all  verity 
that  I  have  seen  the  grave  give  up  its  dead.  The 
babe  of  Bethlehem's  manger,  grown  to  manhood, — 
the  Friend  of  sinners, — the  Prince  of  Israel  stood  in 
yonder  place  of  tombs.  Look,  child,  there  is  an 
empty  sepulcher,  midway  on  the  hill,  beneath  the 
shadow  of  the  tamarisk.  It  was  to  that  tomb, 
closed,  silent,  foul  with  the  damps  of  corruption, 
that  we  came  that  day,  hopeless  and  heavy-hearted. 

"  'Take  ye  away  the  stone  !'  He  commanded. 


AT  THE  FOUNTAIN.  59 

"  My  sister  laid  her  hand  upon  his  arm.  '  It  is 
already  four  days,'  she  whispered. 

"  He  turned  to  her.  '  Did  I  not  tell  thee  that 
if  thou  wouldst  believe,  thou  shouldst  see  the  glory 
of  God  ?' 

"  Then  certain  of  the  men  who  had  followed  us, 
in  obedience  to  her  signal,  rolled  away  the  stone. 
A  great  stillness  fell  upon  us  all ;  within  the  black 
hollow  we  could  see  the  dead,  lying  white  and 
rigid  in  his  narrow  prison.  The  breath  of  the 
grave,  heavy  with  spicery,  stole  out  chill  and  damp 
into  the  quiet  sunshine,  like  a  stealthy  ghost. 

"  He  stood  before  the  open  door,  his  eyes  lifted 
to  the  blue  heavens.  After  a  time  he  spoke,  very 
softly,  as  one  would  speak  to  a  friend  who  leaned 
close  to  listen.  '  Father,  I  thank  thee  that  thou 
hast  heard  me.  I  know  that  thou  hearest  me 
always  ;  but  because  of  these  who  stand  by  I 
say  it,  that  they  may  believe  that  thou  hast  sent 
me.' 

"  When  he  had  thus  spoken,  he  cried  with  a  loud 
voice,  '  Lazarus,  come  forth  !' 

"  Then  he  that  was  dead — our  brother — our  be- 
loved— came  forth,  stumbling,  as  one  suddenly 
aroused  from  a  deep  sleep ;  bound,  moreover,  hand 
and  foot  with  his  grave-clothes.  How  shall  I  tell 
thee,  child,  of  the  moments  that  followed,  of  the 
terror  and  the  joy  that  seized  upon  us  all,  so  that 
we  were  dazed  and  helpless  like  the  newly-awakened 
dead.  It  was  the  Master  who  brought  us  back  to 


60  THE  CEOSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

ourselves,  reminding  us  gently  that  there  was  some- 
thing that  we  might  do  for  our  beloved. 

" '  Loose  him/  he  said  to  me  quietly,  '  and  let 
him  go  home.' ' 

The  woman  stooped  and  dipped  her  pitcher  in 
the  spring  ;  she  was  still  smiling,  as  one  who  car- 
ries about  a  joyful  secret.  "  I  think,"  she  said, 
"  that  the  wise  rabbi  is  returning  from  Jerusalem. 
He  will  tell  thee  more  of  this  Jesus ;  he  will  tell 
thee  that  the  wise  and  learned  council  at  Jerusalem 
caused  him  to  be  put  to  death  not  many  days  after 
he  called  my  brother  from  the  tomb.  But  know, 
child,  that  the  grave  had  no  power  to  hold  the 
Anointed  of  the  Highest.  He  became  alive  again  ! 
He  lives  to-day — to-day  and  forever !  Do  not 
forget !" 

She  turned  and  hurried  away  down  the  steep 
pathway,  her  dripping  pitcher  poised  lightly  on  her 
head. 

Phannias  stared  after  the  retreating  figure  in 
dazed  silence,  then  he  started  to  his  feet.  "  Where, 
oh,  where  is  he?"  he  cried  passionately.  "Tell 
me  ;  I  want  to  find  him — I  must  find  him  !" 

The  woman  had  already  gained  the  terraced 
street  of  the  village.  She  turned  for  an  instant  and 
pointed  upward,  then  disappeared  behind  the  high 
wall  of  a  garden. 

Below,  coming  with  long  strides  along  the  dusty 
highway,  was  Ben  Huna.  He  carried  in  both  hands 
with  jealous  care  a  silver  vase.  The  vase  contained 


AT  THE  FOUNTAIN.  61 

the  ashes  of  a  red  heifer,  burned  beyond  the  city 
gates  with  pomp  and  show  of  priestly  ritual.  These 
ashes  had  been  justly  commingled  with  pure  water 
from  the  great  laver  of  the  sanctuary ;  the  mixture 
was  called  the  Water  of  Separation.  It  cleansed 
from  sin — according  to  The  Law. 


62  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

EXPIATION. 

TO  Phannias,  the  days  that  followed  appeared 
like  a  strange  dream,  wherein  the  harsh  re- 
alities of  the  known  and  visible  world  mixed  and 
commingled  with  cloudy  influxes  from  the  infinite 
and  invisible,  which  girds  us  about  one  and  all  with 
mystery,  never  entirely  shut  out  from  the  most 
sordid  soul,  often  opening  in  strange,  enchanting 
vistas  before  the  prescient  eyes  of  innocence. 

Ben  Huna  observing  the  still  look  of  peace  upon 
the  face  of  the  child,  and  perceiving  moreover  that 
the  silence  and  aloofness  of  his  separation  irked  him 
not  at  all,  was  divided  in  his  mind  betwixt  amaze- 
ment and  displeasure.  He  was  conscious  of  a  keen 
desire  to  write  with  the  sharp  stylus  of  the  law  an 
ineffaceable  lesson  upon  the  white  soul  of  the  youth- 
ful Nazarite.  This  desire  was  rooted — or  so  the 
good  rabbi  assured  himself — in  pure  love  for  the 
child.  If  beneath  all  this  recognized  benevolence 
there  lurked  a  secret  ambition  to  be  known  in  days 
to  come  as  the  guide  and  instructor  of  a  most  holy 
Nazarite,  a  wise  and  mighty  rabbi,  a  high  priest, 
perchance — nay,  who  could  tell — the  ambition  itself 
was  laudable. 


EXPIATION.  63 

On  the  seventh  day,  the  final  sprinkling  with  the 
water  of  separation  having  been  duly  accomplished, 
the  child's  long  silken  hair  was  cut  off  and  solemnly 
buried  in  the  earth,  in  token  that  all  the  past  years 
of  his  vow  were  as  though  they  were  not.  On  this 
occasion  Ben  Huna  devoted  the  better  part  of  the 
twenty-four  hours  to  a  learned  and  vastly  compre- 
hensive discourse  on  the  nature  of  the  contaminat- 
ing uncleanness  incurred  by  touching  the  dead. 
He  also  explained  the  legal  process  by  which  'the 
cleansing  water  of  separation  was  prepared,  dwell- 
ing with  enthusiasm  on  the  wisdom  and  gracious- 
ness  of  the  Creator  in  thus  providing  a  loophole  of 
escape  for  the  guilty. 

Phannias  listened  in  silence,  the  while  Ben  Huna 
drew  out  the  fine-spun  thread  of  legal  disquisition, 
waxing  eloquent  and  eager  as  he  mingled  aphorism 
and  parable,  monstrous  extravagance  and  profound 
allegorical  truth,  with  the  hair-splitting  finesse  of 
the  accomplished  scholar.  The  child  thought 
dreamily  of  the  man  of  Galilee,  standing  in  the 
dismal  place  of  tombs  and  calling  to  the  unholy 
dead  with  a  voice  of  power.  The  last  words  of 
the  woman  of  Bethany,  and  her  strange  gesture  in 
answer  to  his  wild  cry  of  appeal,  haunted  him. 
"  The  grave  could  not  hold  him  :  he  lives  to-day 
and  forever."  He  longed  with  a  great  longing  to 
behold  this  Jesus,  the  Prince  of  Israel  and  of 
death. 

On  the  eighth  day  Ben  Huna  brought  his  charge 


64  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

to  the  temple,  there  to  offer  to  the  priest  the  two 
young  pigeons,  prescribed  by  the  law,  the  one  a 
sin-offering,  the  other  a  burnt-offering.  The  child 
looked  about  him  with  wide  wondering  eyes.  The 
solemn  ranks  of  carven  pillars,  beneath  whose 
mighty  feet  shone  marble  floors,  stretching  away  in 
echoing  vistas  to  distant  gleaming  gates  ;  the  pun- 
gent breath  of  incense  mingling  with  the  smoke  of 
the  never-dying  fire  upon  the  great  altar  of  sacri- 
fice ;  the  white  figures  of  priest  and  Levite,  gliding 
noiselessly  here  and  there  upon  their  holy  errands  ; 
the  scattered  worshipers,  standing  motionless  with 
bowed  heads,  or  lying  prostrate  in  agonized  suppli- 
cation before  the  Jehovah,  who  inhabited  eternity, 
but  who  also  dwelt  in  the  awful  darkness  of  the 
Holy  of  Holies — all  this  pressed  hard  upon  the 
sensitive  soul  of  the  child.  He  would  fain  have 
hidden  his  shorn  head  from  the  insupportable 
glories  of  the  place  ;  but  Ben  Huna  led  him  steadily 
forward,  through  the  wonderful  brazen  gate  Beau- 
tiful ;  across  the  vast  glittering  court  of  the  women  ; 
up  the  shining  circular  steps,  worn  smooth  with  the 
feet  of  countless  worshipers.  Mechanically  the 
child  counted  them,  remembering  that  they  were 
numbered  for  the  fifteen  Psalms  of  degrees. 

When  they  stood  at  last  in  the  Court  of  Israel, 
which  enclosed  in  cloistered  calm  the  shining  soul 
of  the  sanctuary,  he  lifted  his  eyes  with  difficulty  to 
the  marvelous  structure,  towering  into  the  brilliant 
blue  of  the  midday  heavens,  as  it  were  a  mountain 


EXPIATION.  65 

of  fire  and  snow.  He  had  been  told  many  times 
of  the  exceeding  beauty  of  this  habitation  of  the 
Most  High  ;  how  that  it  was  builded  of  great 
blocks  of  marble,  overlaid  with  gold  of  dazzling 
brightness  ;  how  that  kings  and  princes  and  mighty 
men  had  for  ages  brought  of  their  riches  and  treas- 
ure for  its  adorning.  He  trembled  to  think  that 
within  the  gleaming  walls,  behind  the  double  veil 
of  scarlet  and  purple  and  gold,  brooded  the  awful 
presence  of  the  Shechinah,  that  ineffable  glory  of 
the  Godhead,  which  had  led  the  children  of  Israel 
through  the  wilderness,  a  pillar  of  cloud  by  day,  a 
pillar  of  fire  by  night. 

Absorbed  in  these  meditations  he  did  not  hear 
the  words  of  the  priest  who  advanced  to  confer 
solemnly  with  Ben  Huna,  but  he  started  violently 
when  the  pitiful  quavering  bleat  of  a  lamb  broke 
the  silence  which  followed.  His  eyes  grew  dark 
with  fear  as  the  priest  seized  the  little  creature  from 
the  hands  of  the  attendants,  examined  it  perfunc- 
torily, then  with  a  muttered  accompaniment  of 
ritual  led  it  away  toward  the  place  of  sacrifice. 
Ben  Huna  signed  to  the  child  to  follow  ;  he  obeyed 
blindly.  The  loud  frightened  bleating  of  the  lamb 
pierced  his  heart ;  it  was  so  white,  so  innocent,  and 
life  was  sweet  in  the  wide  flowery  fields.  For  an 
instant  a  fierce  unreasoning  hatred  of  the  glitter- 
ing temple,  of  the  white-robed  muttering  priest — 
yes,  of  the  God,  hid  within  the  gorgeous  sanc- 
tuary, whose  anger  could  be  appeased  by  so 

5 


66  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

piteous  a  sacrifice — swelled  his  heart  almost  to 
bursting. 

In  obedience  to  a  peremptory  gesture  from  the 
priest,  he  laid  his  trembling  hands  upon  the  soft 
white  head  of  the  lamb,  responding  with  faint  amens 
to  the  loud  chanting  of  the  ritual  of  Atonement. 
The  priest  hastily  muttered  a  benediction,  then  with 
the  practiced  swiftness  of  the  priestly  butcher  he 
seized  the  animal  by  the  throat ;  a  single  thrust  of 
the  sacred  knife  and  the  red  life-blood  flashed  into 
the  golden  bowl  of  sacrifice.  Phannias  glanced  up 
timidly  into  the  cold,  grim,  face  of  the  priest ;  then 
his  head  dropped  upon  his  breast  and  he  turned  as 
if  to  go  away. 

A  watchful  Levite  seized  him  by  the  shoulder. 
"Wouldst  turn  thy  back  upon  the  altar?"  he 
whispered,  with  an  angry  frown.  "  Stand  where 
thou  art  till  the  sprinkling  be  done  !" 

The  child  paid  but  scant  heed  to  the  service  which 
followed,  the  while  the  pitiful  little  body  of  the 
lamb,  laid  in  order  upon  the  undying  fire  of  the 
vast  altar,  slowly  consumed  away.  He  stared  with 
wide  eyes  at  the  slender  cloud  of  smoke,  which 
bowed  and  wavered  spirit-like  before  the  dazzling 
front  of  the  sanctuary.  He  wondered  if  the  sharp 
odor  of  the  burning  flesh  was  indeed  a  sweet  savor, 
pleasing  and  acceptable  to  the  King  of  kings  throned 
in  the  veiled  place.  Could  it  be  that  the  awful 
hidden  Presence  regarded  him  with  gracious  eyes, 
as  he  stood  without,  clean  once  more  and  sanctified, 


EXPIATION.  67 

because  the  lamb  had  died  ?  A  single  drop  of  the 
sacrificial  blood  gleamed  red  upon  the  snowy  skirt 
of  his  tunic  ;  the  child  touched  it  timidly  ;  how  was 
it  that  the  dead  shepherd — to  whom  angels  had 
spoken — was  unclean,  while  the  lamb — which  had 
eaten  grass  in  the  meadows — was  holy  ?  And  all 
the  while  his  lips  repeated  mechanically  the  yearn- 
ing prophetic  words  of  the  sacrificial  liturgy  : 

"  Return,  O  my  soul,  to  thy  rest, 
For  Jehovah  hath  requited  me ! 
Surely  thou  hast  delivered  my  life  from  death, 
Mine  eyes  from  tears,  and  my  feet  from  falling. 
Praise,  O  ye  servants  of  Jehovah, 
Praise  ye  the  name  of  Jehovah  ! 
Blessed  be  Jehovah's  name, 
Henceforth  and  forever! 
From  sunrise  unto  its  setting, 
Praised  be  Jehovah's  name ! 
Halleluiah !     Amen  and  Amen !" 


68  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

IN    THE    TEMPLE. 

ALL  at  length  was  finished.  The  priest  had 
pronounced  him  clean,  forgiven,  sanctified, 
and  restored  to  grace  and  favor  with  God  and  man. 
Then  it  was  that  a  great  wave  of  joy  swept  over  the 
soul  of  Phannias.  The  color  flowed  back  into  his 
pallid  cheeks  ;  his  eyes  sparkled ;  he  could  have 
danced,  as  did  King  David  before  the  ark. 

Ben  Huna  perceived  his  exultation  and  smiled — a 
wise  smile.  "  Now  thou  shalt  look  upon  the  glories 
of  the  temple,  my  son,"  he  said  indulgently,  "and 
delight  thine  eyes  with  the  beauty  of  Zion." 

Phannias  looked  up  joyfully  into  the  face  of  his 
master ;  it  was  no  longer  averted,  cold,  unloving, 
like  the  grim  face  of  the  offended  Law.  "  Nay,  he 
was  more  kind  " — thought  the  child  in  a  rapture 
of  gratitude — "  more  loving,  more  wonderfully  wise 
than  ever  before." 

"  I  am  already  full  of  joy,"  he  murmured. 

"Thou  art  filled  with  joy,  my  son,  because  thou 
hast  satisfied  the  requirements  of  the  Ian'"  said 
Ben  Huna,  astutely ;  "  and  thus  only  may  happi- 
ness be  found.  Call  to  thy  mind  how  that  David 
rejoiced  and  sang  aloud  of  the  pleasure  to  be 


IN  THE  TEMPLE.  69 

found  in  keeping  the  precepts  of  the  Most  High. 
'  The  law  of  thy  mouth/  he  declared,  '  is  better 
unto  me  than  thousands  of  gold  and  silver.  Unless 
thy  laiv  had  been  my  delight,  I  should  have  perished 
in  my  affliction.  I  will  never  forget  thy  precepts ; 
for  with  them  hast  thou  quickened  me.'  Remember 
this  thing  that  hath  befallen  thee,  my  child  ;  write  it 
upon  the  tables  of  thy  heart,  for  so  shalt  thou  inherit 
the  reward  of  the  righteous,  even  length  of  days, 
riches  also  and  honor,  at  the  hands  of  Jehovah. 
Verily,  he  delighteth  in  the  obedience  of  Israel ;  but 
the  unruly  and  froward  of  heart  he  utterly  destroys." 

Phannias'  bright  face  clouded ;  he  remembered 
the  mysterious  man  of  Galilee,  put  to  death — the 
woman  had  said — by  the  wise  and  learned  Council 
at  Jerusalem.  "  My  master,"  he  ventured,  after  a 
timid  pause,  "  is  it  true  that  every  one  who  pleases 
God  and  keeps  the  law  is  honored,  and  rich,  and  of 
many  days  ?" 

Ben  Huna  pursed  up  his  lips  with  an  air  of 
pride ;  verily,  this  child  was  destined  to  sit  one  day 
among  the  askers  of  deep  questions.  "God  showeth 
mercy  unto  thousands  of  them  that  love  him  and 
keep  his  commandments,"  he  answered  conclu- 
sively ;  "  he  also  visiteth  the  iniquity  of  the  fathers 
upon  the  children,  unto  the  third  and  fourth  gener- 
ation of  them  that  hate  him.  So  it  is  that  if  a  man 
who  seemeth  to  be  righteous  suffers  evil,  who  shall 
say  whether  it  be  his  sin  or  the  sin  of  his  fathers 
which  causeth  him  to  be  punished  ?" 


70  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

Phannias  sighed  deeply.  "  The  Law  is  a  strange 
thing,"  he  said  under  his  breath,  " — strange  and 
terrible." 

Before  the  setting  of  the  sun  the  twain  had  looked 
upon  the  "  Mountain  of  the  House "  in  all  its 
glory.  They  had  stood  in  the  lofty  vaulted  chamber 
of  Council,  wherein  the  judges  of  Israel  were  wont 
to  convene.  The  central  seat,  Ben  Huna  informed 
the  lad  in  a  reverent  whisper,  was  the  throne  of  the 
president  of  the  Sanhedrim ;  on  either  side  were 
ranged  the  semicircular  benches  of  the  seventy 
judges,  chosen  from  among  the  priests,  the  elders 
and  the  scribes  of  Israel. 

"  I  would  not  have  you  ignorant,  my  son,  that 
thou  also  art  of  the  priestly  line,"  said  the  rabbi,  as 
the  two  passed  down  one  of  the  stately  marble 
stairways  which  led  from  the  sacred  enclosure  into 
the  spacious  court  of  the  Gentiles.  "  At  no  distant 
day  thou  wilt  come  to  thine  own ;  here  shalt  thou 
dwell,  holy  unto  the  Lord." 

"Will  the  Messiah  come  to  this  place?"  asked 
Phannias,  staring  thoughtfully  at  a  wretched  beggar 
who  lay  asleep  in  the  shadow  of  the  sacred  wall. 

"Assuredly  he  will  come  to  this  place!"  cried 
the  rabbi  with  exultation.  "  The  Messiah  will  visit 
this  holy  mountain,  and  the  light  of  it  shall  extend 
to  the  ends  of  the  earth,  even  as  the  light  of  a 
jasper  stone,  exceeding  precious." 

The  worthy  man  was  silent  for  a  space,  then  he 
looked  down  at  the  child.  He  had  turned  once 


7.V  THE  TEMPLE.  71 

more  toward  the  shining  tower  of  the  sanctuary, 
which  gleamed  within  its  fair  setting  of  cloistered 
courts  like  a  jewel  of  price.  "  To  think  that  thou, 
even  thou,  my  son,  couldst  bring  that  blessed  day 
to  pass  !"  he  cried  yearningly. 

"  If  I  could  keep  the  six  hundred  and  thirteen 
laws,"  murmured  Phannias,  hanging  his  head  ;  "but 
I  have  already  sinned  grievously " 

"Thou  shalt  sin  no  more  because  of  the  false 
Messiah,"  said  Ben  Huna,  his  face  hardening. 
"  Come,  we  will  walk  in  Herod's  portico  yonder, 
and  I  will  speak  to  thee  of  the  matter,  as  I  prom- 
ised." 

The  child  followed  the  long  strides  of  his  master 
in  silence,  and  found  himself  presently  in  the  most 
wonderful  cloister  in  all  the  world ;  more  than  a 
hundred  feet  in  breadth,  and  a  clear  thousand  in 
length ;  its  lofty  roof  of  carven  cedar  supported  by 
four  rows  of  mighty  Corinthian  pillars,  cut  and  pol- 
ished from  precious  marbles  of  varying  tints.  The 
floor  of  this  vast  columned  court  rested  upon 
vaulted  substructures,  built  up  at  uncounted  cost 
from  the  wild  valley  of  Jehoshaphat,  hundreds  of 
feet  below.  Ben  Huna,  seeing  the  look  of  wonder 
in  the  eyes  of  the  child,  vouchsafed  this  explana- 
tion. He  also  bade  his  charge  observe  how,  from 
either  side  of  this  so-called  Herod's  porch,  there 
extended  a  triple  line  of  Corinthian  columns,  form- 
ing a  cloister  nearly  four  thousand  feet  in  length, 
which  enclosed  the  whole  area  of  the  temple 


72  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

mount ;  the  cloister  in  turn  being  surrounded  with 
a  wall  of  enormous  strength  and  thickness. 

"  The  temple,"  he  declared,  waxing  warm  with 
the  matter  in  hand,  "is  in  truth  a  sacred  fortress, 
splendid,  impregnable.  It  commands  not  only  the 
holy  city  but  the  heights  around.  God  will  never 
allow  it  to  be  removed ;  it  is  eternal  as  the  rock 
upon  which  it  stands  !" 

The  worthy  rabbi  dilated  at  great  length  upon 
the  subject,  it  being  indeed  a  favorite  theme  among 
all  patriotic  Jews,  to  whom  the  temple  was  not  less 
precious  than  their  own  souls.  "  Thou  hast  seen 
the  glory  and  the  might  of  this  habitation  of  the 
Most  High,"  he  concluded,  fixing  his  keen  eyes  on 
the  child's  attentive  face.  "What  now  wouldst 
thou  think  if  I  should  declare  to  thee,  '  I  am  able 
to  destroy  this  temple  and  build  it  again  in  three 
days  ?'  " 

Phannias  looked  his  astonishment  at  this  strange 
question.  Then  seeing  that  his  master's  face  was 
stern  and  grave,  he  answered  straightway,  "  I 
should  think  that  it  could  not  be  true." 

"  The  babe  of  Bethlehem's  manger,  grown  to 
manhood,  beheld  this  place,  even  as  thou  hast  be- 
held it,"  said  Ben  Huna  slowly;  "and,  standing  in 
the  midst  of  its  eternal  glories,  spake  this  foul  lie. 
Afterward,  when  he  had  blasphemed  repeatedly 
against  the  law  and  the  prophets — yea,  and  this 
holy  place  also,  he  declared  openly  that  lie  was  the 
Christ:' 


IN  THE  TEMPLE.  73 

The  voice  of  the  speaker  sank  to  a  hoarse 
whisper,  as  though  he  feared  to  profane  the  air 
with  the  terrible  words. 

Phannias  looked  down  at  the  marble  pavement  in 
trembling  silence. 

"  The  outraged  chiefs  of  the  nation  brought  the 
man  before  the  holy  tribunal  of  the  Sanhedrim," 
continued  Ben  Huna,  in  measured  tones.  "  He  was 
found — guilty." 

"And  what — "  faltered  the  child — "became  of 
him?" 

"  He  was  nailed  to  a  cross,  hand  and  foot, — cru- 
cified," said  Ben  Huna  coldly  ;  "  a  blasphemer  fitly 
tortured  betwixt  two  common  criminals  on  the 
accursed  mount  of  death  yonder." 

"And — and  afterward  ?" 

"Afterward !  Nay,  what  more  of  this  demon's 
web  of  falsehood  hath  blown  about  thine  ears  ? 
Afterward  he  was  buried.  The  tomb  was  sealed 
and  guarded  by  order  of  the  Roman  governor,  who 
had  been  forewarned  of  treachery  by  the  watchful 
priests.  The  Gentile  soldiers  drenched  themselves 
with  wine,  after  their  heathen  custom ;  and  while 
they  slept  their  drunken  sleep  certain  ignorant  peas- 
ants— who  had  followed  the  man  for  years,  gaping 
at  his  false  miracles — stole  the  body.  Anon  these 
declared  that  the  crucified  blasphemer  was  risen 
from  the  dead — risen  and  ascended  into  heaven  !" 

"  Didst  thou  see  this  man  ?"  demanded  Phannias, 
after  a  long  silence. 


74  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

"Thanks  be  to  Jehovah — no  !"  I  was  in  Alex- 
andria during  the  days  of  that  abomination." 

"Then  how — "  and  the  child's  timid  voice 
gained  strength — "  how  is  it  that  thou  dost  know 
that  he  was  not — the  Messiah  ?" 

Ben  Huna  looked  down  into  the  clear  question- 
ing eyes  upraised  to  his.  He  was  neither  angry 
nor  alarmed  at  the  question.  He  fancied  that  he 
detected  here  the  budding  Haggadist,  who  would, 
in  wise  conclaves  of  the  future,  determine  abstruse 
points  of  sacred  law  and  doctrine  in  such  wondrous 
fashion  that  men  would  ask :  "  Who  and  what 
manner  of  man  was  the  instructor  of  this  mighty 
scholar  ;  and  at  whose  feet  did  he  sit,  who  hath  this 
excellent  wisdom  ?" 

"  Thou  art  not  in  the  wrong,  my  son,  in  thy  de- 
sire to  penetrate  to  the  very  uttermost  of  this  mat- 
ter," he  said,  drawing  his  beard  through  his  hand 
with  an  argumentative  air.  "  How  to  recognize 
the  Messiah  through  a  study  of  the  law  and  the 
prophets  is  a  most  worthy  task,  and  one  which 
haply  shall  fill  thy  days  during  many  blessed  years. 
This  crucified  carpenter  of  Galilee  was  not  the 
Messiah — nay,  it  were  almost  blasphemous  to 
couple  his  name  with  the  blessed  name  of  the 
Prince  of  Peace.  None,  save  the  unlearned  and 
superstitious,  could  possibly  regard  him  as  such  ; 
and  for  this  I  could  name  thee  a  thousand  reasons. 
At  this  moment  I  will  propound  to  thee  one  ques- 
tion. If  the  man  of  Galilee  actually  arose  from 


IN  THE  TEMPLE.  75 

his  dishonored  tomb — as  his  followers  impudently 
claim  to  this  day — why  did  he  not  reveal  himself 
in  this  holy  place,  crowned,  triumphant?  Who 
then  could  have  doubted  of  all  the  wise  and 
mighty  and  godly  men  who  here  assemble  them- 
selves? But  not  one  of  all  these — not  one,  mark 
you — saw  him.  The  witnesses  of  the  alleged  mir- 
acle were  his  chosen  followers ;  and  of  these  the 
chief  disciple,  to  my  certain  knowledge,  denied  the 
man  with  curses  on  the  night  of  his  trial  before  the 
Sanhedrim.  But,  come,  it  is  already  the  ninth 
hour  ;  we  must  get  us  down  to  the  city,  where  there 
are  divers  things  I  would  show  thee  before  we 
sleep.  To-morrow's  dawn  must  find  us  well  on  our 
way  toward  Bethlehem." 

As  the  man  and  the  child  emerged  from  a  maze 
of  narrow  streets  into  the  great  square  which  lay 
before  the  Roman  tower,  Antonia,  they  found 
themselves  in  the  midst  of  an  excited  multitude, 
which  filled  the  place  to  overflowing. 

"What  has  happened?"  asked  Ben  Huna,  ad- 
dressing a  Jew  who  had  drawn  himself  up  into  an 
embrasure  of  the  wall  that  he  might  look  over  the 
heads  of  the  crowd. 

"They  are  scourging  the  knave  in  the  castle 
yard !"  replied  the  man  with  an  air  of  fierce  de- 
light. "  May  the  lash  silence  his  blasphemous 
tongue  ! — Ah,  look  ;  he  is  coming  out !" 

The  crowd  opened  like  the  jaws  of  an  animal, 
and  Phannias  saw  the  tall,  emaciated  figure  of  a 


76  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

man  emerge  from  the  castle  gate,  which  closed  be- 
hind him  with  a  clang.  He  who  had  been  thrust 
out  stood  for  an  instant  looking  about  him  with 
dazed  eyes,  then,  drawing  himself  up  to  his  full 
height,  flung  his  lean  arms  above  his  head. 

"  Woe  to  Jerusalem  !  Woe  !  Woe  !"  His  voice, 
curiously  muffled  and  dull,  struck  ominous  echoes 
like  the  blows  of  a  hammer  from  the  frowning 
walls  of  the  castle.  "  Woe  to  Jerusalem  !  Woe  !" 

The  crowd  moaned  and  shuddered ;  cries  and 
curses  arose  from  single  throats,  but  not  a  hand  was 
raised  to  seize  the  man  who  had  been  scourged.  He 
walked  slowly  through  the  swaying  multitude,  his 
bright  eyes  fastened  upon  some  point  high  above 
their  heads,  his  face  drawn  and  fixed  in  ghastly 
semblance  of  a  smile.  Suddenly  he  broke  into  a 
run,  swaying  his  terrible  face  from  side  to  side,  like 
one  who  flees  from  an  unsupportable  horror ;  the 
strange  dead  voice  beat  the  air  in  fainter  and  ever 
fainter  reverberations.  "  Woe  !  Woe  to  Jerusa- 
lem !  Woe !" 

The  man  who  had  spoken  to  Ben  Huna  drew  a 
sharp  breath  and  flung  his  hand  across  his  eyes. 
"  May  Jehovah  destroy  the  prophet  of  evil !"  he 
groaned. 

"  Who  is  the  fellow  ?"  demanded  Ben  Huna  with 
indignation.  "Why  has  he  not  been  dealt  with 
after  the  law  ?  I  have  seen  men  stoned  for  less  !" 

The  Jew  shrugged  his  shoulders.  "  He  has  been 
scourged  thrice  at  our  instance — with  what  result, 


IN  THE  TEMPLE.  77 

thou  seest.  Our  masters, — curse  them,  will  permit 
us  nothing  further."  He  cast  a  look  of  venomous 
hate  at  the  Roman  guard,  standing  stolidly  at  their 
posts  before  the  castle  gate.  "  Night  and  day  for 
more  than  a  twelvemonth,  in  the  streets,  in  the 
synagogues,  in  the  very  temple  itself,  that  accursed 
note  of  evil  has  sounded  in  our  ears.  My  God,  I 
will  hear  it  no  longer  !" 

With  that  the  Jew  thrust  his  fingers  in  his  ears 
and  fled  away  like  one  demented.  Ben  Huna 
stared  upward  in  horror  and  amaze.  The  myste- 
rious voice  seemed  to  drop  from  the  air  above  their 
heads  ;  it  beat  upon  the  writhing  multitude  like  the 
hailstones  of  an  angry  God.  "  Woe  to  Jerusalem  ! 
Woe !  Woe  !" 

"  'Tis  the  voice  of  a  demon  !"  cried  Ben  Huna. 
"  Come,  we  will  go  !"  And  grasping  the  child's 
hand,  he  hurried  away  toward  the  gate  Miphkad. 


78  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

CONCERNING    THE    PRINCE. 

THE  Phannias  who  returned  to  Bethlehem  was 
no  longer  a  child.  Rachel  perceived  this, 
and  insensibly  bowed  herself  before  him  after  the 
fashion  of  women.  The  intimate  mother-love, 
warm  as  the  breast  of  a  brooding  dove,  gave  place 
to  a  more  distant  but  not  less  passionate  affection, 
which  consoled  itself  with  endless  renunciations, 
labors,  vigils,  prayers,  wordless  and  well-nigh  un- 
ceasing. 

The  boy,  after  the  manner  of  youth,  grew  and 
expanded  in  this  atmosphere  of  love  and  abnega- 
tion like  a  sturdy  tree,  which,  embraced  and  nour- 
ished by  the  puissant  forces  of  nature,  comprehends 
them  not  at  all,  save  as  things  necessary  for  its 
good.  Into  his  studies  concerning  the  Messiah  he 
threw  himself  with  an  ardor  which  astonished  even 
Ben  Huna.  During  these  quiet  years,  peacefully 
like  the  one  to  the  other  as  the  sunshiny  days  of 
midsummer,  the  strange  talc  of  the  shepherd  and 
the  yet  stranger  words  of  the  woman  of  Bethany 
well-nigh  faded  from  his  mind. 

Ben  Huna  had  not  again  referred  to  the  crucified 
Nazarene.  "  The  mind  is  a  treasure-house,"  he  was 


CONCERNING  THE  PRINCE.  79 

wont  to  declare  ;  "  if  it  be  small,  or  if  it  be  great, 
it  is  one,  since  God  hath  set  bounds  to  its  capacity. 
Seek  therefore  to  fill  thy  treasure-house,  whether 
small  or  great,  with  that  which  is  good,  that  thou 
mayst  delight  thyself  therein,  when  the  evil  days 
come  and  the  windows  thereof  be  darkened."  Be- 
lieving this,  the  worthy  rabbi  set  himself  the  more 
diligently — though  in  all  simplicity  of  heart — to  fill 
the  boy's  mind  to  overflowing  with  the  worthless 
husks  of  living  truth  which  the  slow-passing  genera- 
tions had  heaped  to  themselves  through  the  ages. 
Yet  ever  amidst  the  dusty  heaps  of  futile  wisdom 
there  gleamed  here  and  there  shining  fragments  of 
truth,  dropped  as  it  were  in  pity  from  the  generous 
hand  of  infinite  wisdom. 

Searching  his  parchment  roll  of  the  Mishna, 
Phannias  chanced  one  day  upon  a  strange  prophecy 
concerning  the  days  of  the  Messiah  ;  he  carried  it 
straightway  to  his  master.  "  What  sayst  thou  to 
this?"  he  asked,  and  read  : 

"  In  the  time  of  the  Messiah  the  people  will  be 
impudent  and  given  to  drinking ;  wine  shops  will 
flourish ;  and  the  fruit  of  the  vine  will  be  costly. 
None  will  care  for  punishment.  The  learned  will 
be  driven  from  one  place  to  the  other,  and  none 
will  have  compassion  on  them.  The  wisdom  of  the 
scribes  will  be  an  abomination.  Fear  of  God  will 
be  despised  ;  truth  will  be  trodden  under  foot,  and 
there  will  be  few  that  are  wise.  The  son  will  not 
reverence  his  father ;  the  daughter  will  rise  against 


8o  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

the  mother,  the  daughter-in-law  against  the  mother- 
in-law,  and  a  man's  foes  shall  be  they  of  his  own 
household.  The  face  of  that  generation  is  as  the 
face  of  a  dog  !" 

Ben  Huna  knit  his  grizzled  brows.  "  It  is  a  hard 
saying,  my  son,"  he  said  gravely;  "yet  when  shall 
the  coming  of  the  Prince  be  glorious  if  not  at  a  time 
when  judgments  are  ripe  against  the  doers  of  evil  ? 
Doth  not  Jeremy  the  prophet  declare  the  word  of 
the  Lord  concerning  him  :  '  Behold  the  days  come 
that  I  will  raise  unto  David  a  righteous  Branch/ and 
a  king  shall  reign  and  prosper,  and  shall  execute 
judgment  and  justice  in  the  earth'?  So  also  hath 
the  prophet  Isaiah  spoken  :  '  With  righteousness 
shall  he  judge  the  poor  and  reprove  with  equity  for 
the  meek  of  the  earth  :  and  he  shall  smite  the 
earth  with  the  rod  of  his  mouth,  and  with  the 
breath  of  his  lips  shall  he  slay  the  wicked.' ' 

Phannias  stared  thoughtfully  at  the  parchment. 
"  'The  fear  of  God  will  be  despised,'  "  he  repeated 
slowly ;  "  '  truth  will  be  trodden  under  foot,  and 
there  will  be  few  that  are  wise.'  What — if — the 
foolish  people  reject  their  Prince,  and  the  genera- 
tion '  with  the  face  of  a  dog  '  turn  against  him  to 
rend  him?" 

Ben  Huna  raised  his  hand  in  solemn  protest. 
"  To  question  thus  were  to  doubt  the  eternal  pur- 
pose of  Jehovah  !"  he  cried  in  a  trembling  voice. 
"  Thinkest  thou  that  the  God  of  Israel  would  suffer 
his  own  Anointed,  ordained  from  the  foundation  of 


CONCERNING  THE  PRINCE.  81 

the  world,  to  be  despised  of  the  unrighteous? 
Verily  '  He  will  smite  the  earth  with  the  rod  of  his 
mouth,  and  with  the  breath  of  his  lips  shall  he  slay 
the  wicked.  And  the  whole  earth  shall  be  filled 
with  the  glory  of  the  Lord  !'  " 

As  Phannias  made  his  way  thoughtfully  home- 
ward he  became  aware  of  a  stranger,  who  sat  by 
the  wayside  as  if  to  rest  after  the  steep  climb  from 
the  valley  below.  This  man,  who  was  old  and 
poorly  dressed,  rose  upon  his  approach  and  stepped 
forward.  "  Canst  thou  direct  me  to  the  khan  ?"  he 
said,  a  certain  ring  of  authority  in  his  deep  tones. 
Then,  as  his  eye  traveled  slowly  over  the  white 
garments  of  the  youthful  Nazarite,  resting  at  length 
on  the  dark,  eager  face,  framed  in  its  loose  locks  of 
curling  hair,  his  worn  face  brightened  into  a  smile 
of  singular  sweetness. 

"  Surely,  like  to  thee  must  he  once  have  been, 
who  walked  the  earth  in  the  beauty  of  his  holi- 
ness," he  said  meditatively.  " — Thou  art  vowed  to 
holiness,  my  son ;  dost  thou  know  the  holiest  ? 
Thou  art  studying  the  wisdom  of  the  ancients  ;  hast 
thou  discerned  the  wisdom  of  God  unto  a  life  that 
endeth  not?" 

Phannias  regarded  his  questioner'  with  frank 
amazement.  "  I  can  tell  thee  where  the  khan  is, 
good  sir,"  he  said.  "  But  who  on  the  earth  below 
or  in  the  heavens  above  is  holiest,  save  the  God 
who  changes  not,  and  who  can  be  known  by  no 
man  ?  As  for  the  wisdom  of  the  ancients,  I  have 

6 


82  THE  CEOSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

learned  nothing  from  the  wisest  of  them  all  of  a  life 
which  endeth  not." 

"  Wouldst  thou  also  taste  of  that  bread  of  God, 
whereof  he  that  eateth  lives  forever?"  asked  the 
stranger,  studying  the  serious  face  of  the  lad, 
beautiful  as  that  of  some  listening  angel. 

Phannias  made  no  answer ;  and  after  a  pause  his 
questioner  continued,  with  a  gesture  full  of  be- 
nignity, "  Sit  by  me  on  the  bank  here,  my  son, 
and  I  will  tell  thee  of  this  bread  of  God,  which 
came  down  from  heaven  no  less  truly  than  did  the 
manna  in  the  desert  of  Sinai,  and  by  which  a  man 
may  live  forever." 

Phannias  obeyed,  wondering  and  still  silent.  The 
stranger  made  no  haste  to  speak  again  ;  he  was 
looking  thoughtfully  down  the  steep  path  which 
wound  up  from  the  storied  valley  below.  There 
Ruth,  the  faithful  Moabitess,  had  gleaned  among 
the  shining  sheaves  ;  and  David,  the  poet  king,  had 
watched  the  flocks  in  his  marvelous  boyhood.  The 
sheep  still  fed  on  the  smooth  green  slopes,  and  on 
the  further  side  of  the  stream  the  garments  of  the 
gleaners  shone  gay  between  the  shocks  of  yellow 
corn.  "  They  have  told  thee  of  the  child  born  in 
the  khan  yonder,  and  of  his  shameful  death,"  he 
said  at  last,  quietly  and  without  turning  his  head. 
"  What  knowest  thou  more  of  Jesus  of  Naza- 
reth?" 

Phannias  started  violently ;  then  the  hot  color 
flamed  up  in  his  brown  cheeks.  "  I  know  this  of 


CONCERNING  THE  PRINCE.  83 

the  man,"  he  said  coldly ;  "  he  once  stood  in  the 
holy  temple  in  Jerusalem,  and,  looking  about  upon 
its  eternal  glories,  declared  that  he  was  able  both 
to  destroy  it  and  to  raise  it  up  again  within  the 
space  of  three  days.  This  was  an  idle  boast,  as 
the  event  proved.  I  would  know  no  more  of  the 
boaster." 

The  stranger's  lips  moved  in  silence  for  an  in- 
stant ;  then  he  turned  his  gentle  eyes  full  upon  his 
companion.  "  If  the  saying  had  concerned  Herod's 
temple  it  would  have  been  not  the  less  true ;  for  he 
spake  as  never  man  spake — even  the  winds  and  the 
waves  obeyed  his  voice  ;  yet  he  spake  not  save  of 
the  temple  of  his  body.  On  that  day  his  enemies 
surrounded  him,  demanding  a  sign,  and  he,  know- 
ing that  he  was  come  from  God  and  in  what  man- 
ner also  he  must  go  to  God,  said  to  them  :  '  De- 
stroy this  temple,  and  in  three  days  I  will  raise  it 
up.'  And  verily  it  came  to  pass  ;  that  evil  gener- 
ation which  knew  not  the  face  of  its  Prince  slew 
him  with  murderous  hands.  Then  was  fulfilled 
that  which  he  had  spoken ;  on  the  third  day  God 
raised  him  from  the  dead  with  power,  and  he  be- 
came alive  again,  and  living,  ascended  before  our 
eyes  into  the  heaven  from  which  he  came." 

"But  why,"  asked  Phannias,  trembling,  "did  he 
not  reveal  himself  in  the  temple, — crowned,  trium- 
phant ?  Then  they  which  were  wise  in  Israel  would 
have  believed  in  him." 

"  '  The  face  of  that  generation  was  as  the  face  of 


84  THE  CEOSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

a  dog,'  "  said  the  stranger,  quietly.  "  Is  it  not  so 
written  in  thy  parchment  roll  ?  And  was  it  meet 
that  God's  Anointed  should  discover  his  glories  be- 
fore them  that  had  rejected  and  despised  him — yea, 
that  had  spit  upon  him,  and  scourged  him,  and 
mocked  him,  hanging  upon  the  cross.  So  also  he 
said — and  the  saying  is  just  and  true — '  Give  not 
that  which  is  holy  unto  the  dogs,  neither  cast  ye 
your  pearls  before  swine,  lest  they  trample  them 
under  their  feet,  and  turn  again  and  rend  you.'  ' 

"  But  the  cross — the  awful  tree  ;  it  is  written  in 
the  law  that  he  that  is  hanged  thereon  is  accursed 
of  God." 

"  Is  it  not  also  written,"  answered  the  stranger — 
and  a  sweet  and  terrible  light  shone  from  his  worn 
face — "  '  Cursed  is  every  one  that  continueth  not  in 
all  things  which  are  written  in  the  book  of  the  law 
to  do  them.'  And  what  man  is  there  who  can  be 
justified  by  the  law  in  the  sight  of  God?  Christ 
therefore  hath  redeemed  us  from  the  curse  of  the 
law,  being  made  a  curse  for  us.  For  God  so  loved 
the  world  that  he  gave  his  only  begotten  son,  that 
whosoever  believeth  in  him  should  not  perish,  but 
have  everlasting  life." 

"  Nay,  but  God  would  not  suffer  the  Messiah  to 
fall  under  the  feet  of  his  enemies,  as  one  accursed 
of  God  and  despised  of  men  ?"  cried  Phannias,  his 
eyes  aflame.  "  I  cannot  believe  it !" 

"  He  was  despised  and  rejected  of  men,"  mur- 
mured the  stranger,  bowing  his  head  ;  "  a  man  of 


CONCERNING  THE  PRINCE.  85 

sorrows  and  acquainted  with  grief;  and  we  hid,  as 
it  were,  our  faces  from  him.  He  was  despised  and 
we  esteemed  him  not." 

Phannias  started  at  sound  of  the  familiar  words. 
"Isaiah  wrote  not  of  the  Messiah — the  Prince  !"  he 
urged  vehemently.  "  '  Behold  the  King  shall  reign 
and  prosper  ;  he  shall  execute  judgment  and  justice 
upon  the  earth. — The  wicked  shall  he  destroy  with 
the  breath  of  his  mouth.'  No — no,  it  cannot  be 
that  he  hath  already  come  !  What  would  be  the 
fate  of  Israel  if  such  a  frightful  thing  were  true  ? 
It  is  not  true — it  cannot  be  true  !  I  will  never  be- 
lieve it !"  The  boy  cast  a  shuddering  glance  up- 
ward, as  if  he  feared  to  behold  the  naked  weapon 
of  God's  wrath,  already  outstretched  to  destroy. 

The  stranger  had  risen  to  his  feet ;  he  also  was 
looking  up  into  the  radiant  heavens,  but  with  love 
and  yearning,  as  one  who  looks  beyond  a  veil 
scarce  drawn  over  longed-for  and  transcendent 
glories.  He  was  silent,  yet  involuntarily  Phannias 
bowed  his  head,  waiting,  though  for  what  he  knew 
not. 

After  a  time  he  became  aware  of  a  light  touch 
upon  his  shoulder.  The  stranger  was  regarding 
him  with  a  melancholy  smile.  "  They  have  wrought 
well  who  have  sought  to  blind  thine  eyes  to  the 
light  which  hath  shined  in  the  darkness,"  he  said 
gently ;  "yet  I  have  prayed  for  thee,  and  when  God 
wills  thine  eyes  shall  be  opened ;  thou  shalt  see  the 
light,  and  the  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  shall 


86  THE  CEOSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

come  upon  thee  there  to  abide."  With  a  gesture 
of  farewell,  he  turned  away.  Phannias  watched  him 
as  he  toiled  painfully  up  the  rugged  path  which  led 
to  the  ancient  khan,  a  long  shaft  of  sunlight  falling 
in  sudden  glory  upon  his  bowed  figure. 


A  QUESTION  AND  AN  ANSWER.  87 


CHAPTER  IX. 

A   QUESTION    AND    AN    ANSWER. 

HAD  the  Messiah  already  come,  and  had  he 
been  rejected  and  put  to  death  by  a  blind 
and  maddened  people  ? 

This  terrible  question  pursued  Phannias  through 
tortured  hours  and  days.  He  turned  to  the 
prophets  with  feverish  energy,  reading  again  and 
again  the  solemn  sayings  of  Isaiah,  which  the 
stranger  had  repeated. 

"  It  cannot — cannot  be  !"  he  cried  aloud,  tears 
of  anguish  starting  to  his  eyes.  But  like  a  strain 
of  melancholy  music  the  prophetic  words  rang  con- 
tinually in  his  ears  ;  he  could  not  but  listen  : 

"  Surely  he  hath  borne  our  griefs,  and  carried  our 
sorrows ;  yet  we  did  esteem  him  stricken,  smitten 
of  God  and  afflicted.  But  he  was  wounded  for  our 
transgressions,  he  was  bruised  for  our  iniquities  : 
the  chastisement  of  our  peace  was  upon  him ;  and 
with  his  stripes  we  are  healed." 

Rachel  was  not  slow  to  perceive  that  something 
was  amiss  with  her  son.  Anxiously  she  prepared 
the  most  tempting  foods,  and  made  all  possible 
haste  in  the  fashioning  of  certain  garments  which 
the  lad,  human  enough  in  his  boyish  likings,  had 


88  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

coveted.  But  none  of  these  things  sufficed  to  draw 
from  him  so  much  as  a  glance  of  surprise  or  ap- 
proval. And  when  for  the  third  time  he  left  his 
favorite  doves  unfed,  and  in  his  distraction  trampled 
a  blossoming  lily  under  foot,  she  resolved  to  pene- 
trate his  reserve  and  find  out  for  herself  the  nature 
of  those  absorbing  studies,  which  she  had  begun  to 
regard  with  alarm  and  disapproval. 

"  Surely  the  child  must  eat,"  she  said  reso- 
lutely. "  Even  the  great  prophets  could  not  live 
by  fasting  alone.  As  for  the  priests  in  the  temple, 
do  they  not  continually  feast  upon  the  fat  of  the 
land  till  they  be  sleek  and  flourishing. — And  such 
also  is  God's  good  will  concerning  them  that  do  his 
pleasure." 

Full  of  these  thoughts  she  approached  Phannias, 
who  sat,  musing  with  cloudy  brows,  on  his  favorite 
bench  beneath  the  fig  tree. 

"  My  son,"  she  began  timidly,  "  wilt  thou  not 
take  of  the  bread  which  I  have  baked  for  thee  ? 
Here  also  is  a  savory  dish  of  the  lentils,  which  thou 
art  wont  to  eat  with  pleasure.  See  now,  I  have 
made  them  ready  for  the  third  time." 

Phannias  looked  up  with  a  shadowy  smile.  "  I 
am  not  hungry,  my  mother,"  he  began,  a  faint  note 
of  apology  in  his  voice. 

"  Nay,  son,  but  thou  art  hungry  ;  rise,  therefore, 
and  eat,  lest  thou  become  faint  and  overborne. — 
Much  learning  is  not  good  for  thee,  who  art  yet  but 
a  child,"  she  added,  with  a  hostile  glance  at  the 


A  QUESTION  AND  AN  ANSWER.  89 

scroll  which  lay  beside  him  on  the  bench.  "  Thrice 
in  the  days  past  have  I  been  minded  to  take  from 
thee  the  parchments  and  bestow  them  in  a  place 
which  thou  wottest  not  of.  Must  I  see  thee  perish 
before  my  eyes  like  a  leaf  that  withereth  ?  For 
what  then  have  I  lived  all  these  years,  if  I  must  be- 
hold this  evil  come  upon  me  ?" 

Phannias  stretched  out  his  arms  with  a  great 
choking  sob  ;  for  the  moment  he  was  a  little  child 
again,  and  his  mother,  full  of  authoritative  love  and 
wisdom,  seemed,  even  as  of  old,  the  sure  refuge 
from  the  poignant  misery  which  he  had  borne  in 
silence  till  he  could  bear  it  no  longer.  "  Mother  !" 
he  cried,  "what  if  the  Messiah  has  come  and  we 
knew  him  not !" 

Rachel  drew  back  in  horror  and  amaze.  "  Nay, 
now  I  know  that  thou  art  ill !  Much  study  hath 
well-nigh  destroyed  thy  understanding.  Come, 
now,  eat  of  the  meat  which  I  have  made  ready  for 
thee,  and  afterward  sleep ;  thou  wilt  awake  to 
wonder  at  thy  sick  fancies." 

But  Phannias  was  not  to  be  comforted  with 
savory  dishes,  nor  soothed  with  sleep.  "  Listen," 
he  said  imperatively,  "I  will  tell  thee  all ;  then  thou 
mayst  judge  for  thyself  whether  I  be  mad. — Nay, 
if  all  Israel  be  not  mad — doomed  !"  In  rapid,  dis- 
jointed sentences  he  poured  out  all  that  he  had 
heard  concerning  Jesus  of  Nazareth,— the  shepherd's 
tale,  the  strange  words  of  the  woman  of  Bethany, 
and  the  meeting  with  the  traveler  beside  the  road 


90  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

leading  to  the  khan.  More  than  once  his  mother 
made  as  though  she  would  have  interrupted  the 
fiery  torrent  of  his  words ;  almost  roughly  he  bade 
her  hold  her  peace  till  he  should  have  finished. 
At  length  his  head  sank  upon  his  breast  and  he  was 
silent. 

His  mother  gazed  through  her  tears  at  her  child's 
downcast  face  and  bowed  figure.  "It  is  no  less 
than  the  Evil  One,"  she  cried,  "who  also  desires  to 
pervert  thee  from  thy  holy  calling !  Yes,  truly," 
she  went  on,  her  voice  gaining  strength  with  her 
righteous  wrath,  "  has  he  not  thrice  attacked  thee 
in  hours  of  weakness  ?  First,  when  thine  ears  were 
filled  with  the  mad  tale  of  the  dotard  at  yonder 
inn — may  Jehovah  requite  him  !  Again,  when  thou 
wast  weak  and  ill  because  of  the  fasting,  as  thou 
wast  going  to  Jerusalem  to  be  cleansed,  and 
now " 

"  Nay,  my  mother,"  said  Phannias  wearily,  "  thou 
hast  not  seen  these  witnesses  of  the  past ;  they 
were  godly  in  speech  and  conduct  even  as  thy- 
self." 

"  Who  art  thou  that  judgest  ?"  said  Rachel 
boldly.  "  Art  thou  not  still  a  child  ;  and  hath  not 
the  Evil  One  power  to  assume  what  semblance  he 
will  ?  See  now,  thou  shalt  eat,  as  I  have  bidden 
thee ;  afterward  we  will  talk  further  of  this  matter." 

An  hour  later,  having  seen  her  beloved  wrapped 
in  the  profound  slumber  of  exhaustion,  she  slipped 
away  to  find  Ben  Huna.  The  rabbi  heard  her  story 


A  QUESTION  AND  AN  ANSWER.  91 

without  question  or  comment.  But  it  was  evident 
that  he  was  neither  seriously  alarmed  nor  angry  at 
what  had  happened.  "  Thou  art  quite  in  the  right, 
my  good  woman,"  he  said,  with  that  amiable  con- 
descension which  marked  the  intercourse  of  the 
learned  with  an  inferior  creation — "  quite  in  the 
right ;  the  Evil  One  goeth  about  openly,  like  a 
roaring  lion  ;  and  anon,  thinly  disguised  in  the  robe 
of  righteousness,  that  he  may  entrap  the  unwary 
and  innocent  of  heart.  These  mischief-making 
Nazarenes  swarm  in  our  midst  like  the  devouring 
grasshopper  ;  they  go  from  place  to  place  diligently 
spreading  what  they  are  pleased  to  call  '  the  good 
tidings,'  even  as  did  their  master,  before  his  career 
was  fortunately  cut  short  by  death." 

The  rabbi  lapsed  into  silence  for  a  time ;  then  he 
went  on  argumentatively,  more  as  if  speaking  with 
himself  than  with  the  distressed  mother,  who  hung 
upon  his  words  with  the  utmost  anxiety.  "The 
lad  is  a  good  scholar — learned  in  the  law  beyond 
his  years.  Nay,  there  is  no  one  like  him,  even  in 
the  great  schools  of  Jerusalem.  I,  Ben  Huna,  have 
said  it.  Even  so,  great  scholars  and  those  learned 
in  the  law  have  been  entrapped  by  this  heresy ;  wit- 
ness Nicodemus,  one  of  the  holy  Sanhedrim,  and 
Joseph  of  Arimathea  also  ;  yea,  and  Saul  of  Tarsus, 
— Lord,  Jehovah !  why  permittest  thou  such  things !" 

"  What  of  these  men  of  whom  thou  hast  spoken?" 
interrupted  the  mother,  leaning  forward  breath- 
lessly. 


92  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

Ben  Huna  lifted  his  eyebrows  and  shrugged  his 
shoulders.  "  They  were  drawn  away  after  the 
false  Messiah,  woman;  blasphemously  accepting 
the  accursed  fruit  of  the  tree  as  the  Anointed  of 
Jehovah.  And  why  they  did  this — how  it  was  ac- 
complished, I  swear  I  cannot  understand  !" — draw- 
ing his  beard  meditatively  through  his  large 
wrinkled  hand.  "  I  have  heard  these  Nazarenes 
prate  of  a  mysterious  power  which  came  upon  them 
from  above,  which  compelled  them  to  believe. 
Verily,  there  must  be  some  diabolic  power  at  work 
here.  These  miracles  of  the  so-called  apostles  now, 
they  are  undoubtedly  strange — strange.  In  my 
opinion  the  Sanhedrim  pays  too  little  heed  to  this 
matter ;  'tis  more  than  a  sect,  in  my  opinion ;  'tis 
a  sword,  menacing  the  life  of  the  nation." 

"  But  Phannias,"  cried  the  mother,  venturing  to 
interrupt  the  current  of  these  sapient  meditations — 
"what  must  I  do  with  my  son?  He  is  even  as  a 
young  eaglet,  struggling  in  the  snare  of  the  fowler  !" 
and  she  wrung  her  hands  weakly.  "  If  these 
Nazarenes  have  diabolic  powers,  as  thou  hast  said 
— nay,  I  also  have  said  it — have  they  not  already 
drawn  their  invisible  meshes  about  the  child  ?  And 
if  my  child  is  undone,  I  am  ready  to  die ;  there  is 
no  good  thing  left  to  me  in  all  the  world  !" 

"  Hold  thou  thy  peace,  woman !"  said  Ben 
Huna,  with  a  large  gesture,  expressive  of  a  patient 
tolerance,  which  is  yet  not  to  be  trifled  with. 
"  There  shall  no  evil  befall  the  lad.  Have  I  not 


A  QUESTION  AND  AN  ANSWER.  93 

already  enriched  his  mind  with  the  wisdom  of  the 
ancients  ;  and  shall  I  not  presently  pluck  out  these 
evil  sayings  from  his  heart,  even  as  a  wise  husband- 
man plucks  out  the  noisome  weeds  from  his  fair 
garden  spaces  ?  Behold  how  the  winds  in  their 
wanderings  waft  viewless  germs  of  evil  even  from 
the  ends  of  the  earth  ;  they  fall  hither  and  yon,  on 
the  field  of  the  diligent  man  and  on  the  vineyard 
of  him  that  despiseth  labor.  God  wills  it  so.  But 
the  diligent  man  will  straightway  pluck  up  the  evil 
growth  before  it  bear  the  fruit  of  mischief,  while  the 
vineyard  of  the  idler  is  choked.  Look  you,  the  lad 
is  no  longer  a  child,  that  thou,  a  woman — albeit  a 
godly  and  diligent  woman — mayst  guide  and  direct. 
The  hour  has  struck  when  he  must  leave  thee  and 
go  up  to  Jerusalem,  there  to  abide.  And  this 
should  have  been  long  since  ;  verily  I  was  not  slow 
to  perceive  it ;  yet  I  had  compassion  on  thee  in  thy 
lonely  estate  and  said  nothing  of  it.  If  now  thou 
wouldst  behold  thy  son  honored  in  Israel,  thou 
wilt  not  open  thy  mouth  to  say  me  nay." 

Rachel  bowed  her  head.  She  had  lived  through 
this  hour  in  the  silence  of  her  shrinking  soul  a 
thousand  times.  "  I  have  already  given  my  son  to 
the  service  of  God,"  she  said  with  resignation.  But 
two  large  tears  silently  arose  and  looked  out  from 
her  sorrowful  eyes. 


94  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 


CHAPTER    X. 

JESUS    IV. 

r  I^HE  tree  of  Israel  was  dead.  The  fiat  had 
JL  gone  forth  :  "  Cut  it  down  ;  why  cumbereth 
it  the  ground?"  But  though  the  ax  was  already 
lifted,  the  tree  stretched  its  meager  branches  to  the 
threatening  heavens,  its  withered  foliage  shivering 
in  ghastly  semblance  of  life. 

The  strange  question  which  fell  from  the  lips  of 
a  rejected  king  as  he  walked  the  streets  of  Jeru- 
salem for  the  last  time  was  about  to  be  answered. 
"  If  they  do  these  things  in  a  green  tree,  what  shall 
be  done  in  the  dry  ?" 

Israel  had  forgotten  the  question.  But  the  an- 
swer, prepared  from  the  foundation  of  the  world, 
was  at  hand. 

In  all  the  doomed  nation  no  prophet  with  tongue 
of  fire  called  the  people  to  repentance ;  no  yearn- 
ing message  of  love  and  pity  fell  from  the  darkened 
windows  of  heaven  ;  no  angel  embassy,  clad  in  the 
shining  insignia  of  Jehovah,  chanted  of  "  Peace, 
good-will,  to  men." 

From  time  to  time  the  far-reaching  echoes  of 
the  gathering  hosts  of  heaven  struck  faint  notes  of 
fear  from  the  sacred  mountains  round  about  Jeru- 


JESUS  IV.  95 

salem.  At  such  times  the  people  would  pause  in 
their  occupations  and  gaze  at  one  another  with  fur- 
tive eyes.  Yet  for  the  most  part  men  laughed  and 
wept;  ate  and  drank;  made  merry  at  weddings 
and  feasts ;  wore  sackcloth  for  their  dead ;  vowed 
solemn  vows  ;  prayed  long  prayers  ;  fetched  tithes 
of  mint  and  anise — all  in  the  old,  old  fashion  ;  the 
while  the  undying  fire  burned  in  the  vast,  shining 
temple,  and  the  smoke  of  countless  sacrifices  arose 
to  the  nostrils  of  an  angry  God. 

In  the  year  66 — counting  from  the  birth  of  the 
man  of  Galilee — Phannias  the  Nazarite  came  to  Je- 
rusalem. In  those  days  he  possessed  the  body  of 
a  warrior,  the  face  of  an  angel  and  the  soul  of  a 
child.  His  master,  Ben  Huna,  bent  and  powdered 
with  the  rime  of  years,  but  scarce  less  a  child  in  the 
guileless  candor  of  his  heart,  came  with  him. 

"  This  youth  is  destined  to  great  things  in  Israel," 
he  declared  boldly  to  the  chief  priest — one  Jesus, 
fourth  of  his  name  in  the  high-priestly  line.  "  I, 
Ben  Huna,  for  many  years  now  a  member  of  the 
lesser  Sanhedrim,  have  instructed  him  both  in  the 
wisdom  of  the  law  and  the  prophets  ;  he  will  shine 
as  a  lamp  in  the  sanctuary  of  the  Most  High, 
even  as  did  the  Nazarite,  Samuel,  in  days  of  old." 

The  high  priest  turned  his  impenetrable  front  full 
upon  Phannias ;  the  young  man  stood  up  boldly 
under  the  cold  gray  eyes,  which  peered  out  at  him 
from  a  network  of  crafty  wrinkles.  "There  is 
already  no  lack  of  light  in  the  dwelling-place  of  El 


96  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

Shaddai,"  he  said  in  measured  tones ;  "  who  also 
hath  created  the  light  to  enlighten  his  people 
Israel — Blessed  be  his  righteous  name  !  The  young 
man  will  find  full  employment  for  his  powers  in  the 
service  of  the  temple,  if  haply  he  be  accepted  of 
the  holy  Sanhedrim." 

Ben  Huna,  who  was  openly  disappointed  with 
the  cool  reception  accorded  his  favorite,  would  have 
spoken  further ;  but  before  he  could  determine  which 
were  most  cogent  and  convincing  of  the  many  words 
which  crowded  hotly  to  his  lips,  he  found  himself 
in  the  anteroom  of  the  audience  chamber,  the  in- 
terview plainly  at  an  end.  Two  days  later  the 
worthy  rabbi,  who  still  lingered  in  Jerusalem,  was 
again  commanded  to  appear  in  the  palace.  This 
time  he  was  admitted  alone  to  the  august  presence 
of  the  potentate. 

"  Concerning  this  Nazarite,  who  is  of  the  seed  of 
Aaron,"  began  the  high  priest  without  preamble  ; 
"  what  of  the  record  of  his  genealogy  ?" 

Ben  Huna  turned  pale  to  the  lips.  "  We  have 
found  an  irregularity  in  the  line  of  descent,"  he 
faltered — "  in  the  ninth  generation  of  the  mother, 
but " 

"  Thou  must  search  out  this  irregularity  and 
make  it  good,"  interrupted  the  high  priest  peremp- 
torily. "  The  youth  shall  serve  as  I  will  direct  until 
the  matter  be  established  beyond  a  perad venture." 

Ben  Huna  opened  his  lips  to  reply,  but  on  second 
thought  he  remained  silent. 


JESUS  IV.  97 

After  a  brief  pause  the  high  priest  continued  ju- 
dicially, "  I  learn  that  the  candidate  is  unpolluted 
by  any  one  of  the  one  hundred  and  forty-four  phys- 
ical blemishes  which  would  have  invalidated  him 
from  service.  This  is  well." — Then  with  a  keen 
glance  into  the  downcast  face  of  the  rabbi,  "  The 
single  missing  name  in  the  ninth  generation  of  the 
female  line  might  well  have  clad  the  youth  in  the 
sable  garments  of  disgrace  and  eternal  banishment, 
but  that  I  willed  it  otherwise.  Yet  the  irregularity 
is  a  stigma  not  to  be  tolerated  ;  it  must  be  removed 
ere  we  can  receive  him  into  the  full  fellowship  of 
our  holy  calling." 

After  he  had  dismissed  the  worthy  rabbi  with  a 
muttered  benediction,  Jesus  IV.  sank  back  upon  the 
richly  embroidered  cushions  of  his  divan  with  a 
languid  sigh.  "  It  were  well,"  he  thought,  "to  hold 
in  check  such  youthful  aspirants  to  the  priesthood  ; 
these  are  no  times  for  would-be  prophets  ;  we  may 
have  other  and  better  use  for  this  gigantic  Naza- 
rite."  Further  desultory  reflections  on  this  unim- 
portant theme  were  cut  short  by  the  announcement 
of  a  messenger  from  the  temple.  At  sight  of  the 
terrified  face  of  the  man  who  entered  his  presence, 
the  high  priest  started  up  from  his  recumbent  posi- 
tion. "  What  now,  Phinehas  ?"  he  demanded 
sharply.  "  Hast  thou  fetched  me  the  moneys?" 

"Alas,  my  good  lord  !"  gasped  the  custodian  of 
the  temple  treasure — for  it  was  no  less  a  person  who 
stood  trembling  in  the  high-priestly  presence.  "Woe 

7 


98  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

is  me,  revered  servant  of  Jehovah  !  how  shall  I  tell 
thee  of  what  has  happened  !" 

"Tell  it  with  thy  tongue,  blockhead,"  cried  the 
priest  wrathfully.  "  What  is  it  that  hath  hap- 
pened ?" 

"The  treasure — the  sacred  treasure,"  wailed  the 
man — tearing  at  his  garment ;  "  the  accursed  Gen- 
tile hath  laid  violent  hands  upon  the  treasure,  and 
hath  taken  away  seventeen  talents  of  gold  !" 

"What  is  this  thou  art  saying?"  cried  the  high 
priest,  starting  to  his  feet ;  "  hath  the  procurator, 
Florus,  dared  to  do  this  thing?" 

"I  was  about  my  duties  in  the  temple,"  said 
Phinehas,  growing  somewhat  more  composed, 
"when  on  a  sudden  a  file  of  Roman  soldiers — may 
leprosy  and  death  seize  upon  them  !  burst  into  the 
sacred  enclosure.  What  could  I  do  ?  They  de- 
manded— and  took — seventeen  talents  !" 

"  What  of  the  guard  ?" 

"The  guard  fled,  your  highness." 

"  But  the  Levites — what  of  them  ?  Was  there 
no  one  of  all  the  thousands  employed  about  the 
place  to  raise  a  hand  in  defence  of  the  treasure  ?" 

"  Those  who  remained  in  the  enclosure  stood  as 
if  turned  to  stone,  my  lord  ;  all  save  one,  a  stranger, 
who  chanced  to  be  separating  the  sacred  wood  from 
certain  knotty  and  imperfect  sticks  hard  by.  He 
smote  the  centurion,  and  would  have  felled  him  to 
the  earth  had  not  the  soldiers  beat  him  off  with  the 
flats  of  their  swords." 


JESUS  IV.  99 

"  What  was  the  name  of  this  priest  ?"  said  Jesus 
sharply. 

"  I  did  not  wait  to  ask,  my  good  lord." 

"  Go  back  ;  find  him,  and  send  him  hither." 

The  custodian  of  the  temple  treasure  hesitated. 
"It  appeared  to  me,  my  good  lord,"  he  said  cring- 
ingly,  "  that  the  youth  was  dying ;  I  therefore  bade 
the  Nethenim  remove  his  body  to  the  vaults,  that 
the  temple  might  not  be  defiled.  He  was  a  Naza- 
rite — by  his  hair  I  judged  it,  and  had  not  received 
ordination." 

The  high  priest  lifted  his  eyebrows.  "  A  pious 
end,"  he  said  indifferently.  Then  he  turned  sharply 
to  Phinehas.  "  This  thing  must  not  come  to  the 
ears  of  the  people,  else  there  will  be  a  tumult,  and 
mischief  beyond  the  reckoning."  He  ground  his 
teeth  in  impotent  fury.  "  To  lose  seventeen  talents 
is  a  terrible  disaster  ;  but  more  and  worse  will  come 
if  the  people  openly  rebel." 

"  Unfortunately,  revered  servant  of  the  Most 
High,  a  number  of  persons  who  were  in  the  court 
at  the  time  witnessed  the  occurrence." 

"  Get  you  back  to  the  temple  without  delay,"  in- 
terrupted the  high  priest.  "  Assemble  every  priest 
and  Levite  in  the  Court  of  Israel ;  I  will  follow." 


loo  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE    REJECTED. 

IF  Ben  Huna  was  bitterly  disappointed  in  the  cir- 
cumstance which  debarred  his  favorite  from 
the  full  functions  and  honors  of  the  priesthood,  it 
was  far  otherwise  with  Phannias.  The  dream  of 
his  life  was  at  length  realized ;  he  was  to  dwell 
perpetually  in  the  shining  courts  of  Jehovah,  whose 
every  service  was  fraught  with  mysterious  possi- 
bilities. He  would  have  accepted  the  meanest 
duty  of  the  lowliest  of  the  Nethenim — or  servants  of 
the  Levites — with  joyful  alacrity.  To  stand  twice 
each  day  in  the  Court  of  Israel — the  while  the 
singing  Levites  emerged  in  solemn  white-robed 
procession  from  the  subterranean  music  rooms,  to 
assemble  in  serried  ranks  upon  the  Steps  of  Degrees; 
to  hear  them  call,  one  company  to  another,  in  their 
sweet,  musical  voices  : 

"Holy!  Holy!  Holy!  Lord  God  of  Sabaoth  !" 

the  harps,  the  citherns  and  the  cymbals  clashing 
in  silver  ecstasy — was  to  thrill  with  a  joy  un- 
speakable. And  when,  in  the  intervals  of  the 
chanting,  the  priests  blew  mightily  upon  the  sacred 
trumpets,  and  at  the  sound  the  whole  congregation 


THE  REJECTED.  101 

fell  down,  worshiping  upon  their  faces — Phannias 
lifted  his  glowing  face  to  the  white  walls  of  the 
sanctuary,  his  soul  swelling  with  a  passion  of 
gratitude.  To  be  born  a  Jew,  he  thought  at 
such  times,  was  to  inherit  a  wondrous  past  and 
a  yet  more  wondrous  future  ;  to  be  born  a  priest 
of  Jehovah,  was  little  short  of  being  made  an 
angel  ! 

In  these  first  days  of  his  novitiate  he  looked  joy- 
ously into  the  faces  about  him ;  surely  all  who 
served  in  the  Mountain  of  the  Lord's  House  were 
his  brothers  beloved.  Here  he  would  discover 
tranquil  lives,  reflecting  the  face  of  God,  as  still 
pools  reflect  distant  stars  ;  and  mingling  with  them 
in  familiar  intercourse  he  would  find  deep  answers 
of  peace  to  all  the  burning  questions  which  had 
vexed  his  soul. 

On  the  third  day  of  his  service  he  ventured  to 
speak  of  his  thoughts  to  the  priest,  whom  he  had 
been  set  to  assist  in  the  task  of  selecting  un- 
blemished wood  for  the  sacrificial  fire.  This  priest 
was  old,  bent  and  wrinkled,  as  Phannias  had  al- 
ready observed ;  he  moved  stiffly  and  scarce  lifted 
his  eyes  from  his  work.  The  two  were  busy  in 
one  of  the  chambers  of  the  Women's  Court. 

"  Hast  thou  served  long  in  this  holy  place,  good 
master?"  asked  Phannias,  making  haste  to  relieve 
his  companion  of  a  heavy  load  of  knotted  and 
worm-eaten  sticks  which  were  to  be  cast  into  "  the 
closet  for  rejected  wood." 


102  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

The  old  man  lifted  his  dim  eyes.  "  Who  calls 
me  master?"  he  said  frowning — "  Nay,  if  thou  wilt 
make  a  jest  of  my  infirmities,  I  must  bear  it.  Yet 
thou  also  hast  been  set  aside  or  thou  wouldst  not 
serve  here." 

"  How  then  shall  I  call  thee  ?" 

"  Call  me  Jachin,"  said  the  old  priest  shortly, 
turning  a  stick  over  and  over  in  his  withered  hands. 
After  a  little  he  spoke  again,  fixing  his  dull  eyes 
upon  his  companion  with  a  faint  show  of  curiosity. 
"  Why  art  thou  sorting  wood  for  the  sacrifices, 
who  hast  a  comely  face  and  an  upright  body  ?  For 
myself  I  was  not  permitted  to  serve  at  the  altar 
because  of  a  crooked  finger;  Jehovah  despiseth 
the  man  or  thing  which  hath  a  blemish — blessed 
be  his  holy  name !  So  for  more  than  forty  years  I 
have  separated  the  spotted,  gnarled  and  worm-eaten 
sticks  from  them  which  be  sound  and  fit  for  the  great 
altar.  I  have  eaten  also  of  the  bread  of  the  Lord's 
house.  Yet,  thrice  within  a  moon  have  I  been 
deprived  of  my  food  because  I  allowed  a  blemished 
stick  to  pass  into  the  house  of  burning.  Mine  eyes 
wax  dim  with  age  and  I  can  no  longer  see  as  I 
once  did." 

"  Why  dost  thou  not  ask  for  thy  portion  and  go 
away  to  thy  home  ?"  asked  Phannias ;  "  surely 
after  forty  years " 

"  There  be  four  and  twenty  thousand  priests  of 
Jehovah  in  Israel,"  interrupted  the  old  man,  in  his 
high  shaking  voice  ;  "  and  how,  thinkest  thou,  may 


THE  REJECTED.  103 

the  great  palaces  of  the  chief  priests  be  builded  and 
victualed  if  these  all  receive  a  portion  ?" 

"  It  is  the  law  !" 

"  Oh  the  law — the  law  !  There  is  one  law  for 
the  great  and  rich  of  the  earth ;  there  is  another 
for  them  that  lack.  But  why  wilt  thou  hear  these 
things  from  me  ?  Thou  wilt  presently  know  them 
for  thyself.  Verily,  I  have  more  than  once  re- 
membered the  saying  of  a  certain  man  out  of  Galilee, 
who  also  visited  the  temple  many  times  in  his  day, 
and  whose  mouth  was  stopped  by  them  that  were 
in  power." 

"  Dost  thou  speak  of  the  false  Messiah  ?"  asked 
Phannias  with  hesitation. 

The  old  priest  shook  his  head.  "  I  speak  of 
Jesus  of  Nazareth,"  he  said;  "who  and  what  he 
was,  God  knoweth.  I  have  thought  more  than  once 
— but  no,  what  profit  in  speaking  one's  thoughts." 

"  Didst  thou  see  him  ?" 

"  See  him  ?  More  than  a  score  of  times  !  I  re- 
member once  on  a  certain  feast  day  when  the  money- 
changers and  the  sellers  of  sacrifices  thronged  the 
temple  gates,  and  even  pressed  in  beyond  the  limits 
set  them  into  places  where  it  was  not  lawful  for 
them  to  be ; — for,  look  you,  there  be  great  gains 
in  feast  days  to  them  that  sell,  and  none  know  it 
better  than  the  chief  priests,  whose  creatures  have 
seized  upon  all  the  temple  business. 

"On  that  day  the  Galilean  made  unto  himself  a 
scourge,  and  with  it  drove  out  every  mother's  son 


104  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

of  them,  together  with  the  sheep,  the  oxen  and  the 
doves.  Also  he  overturned  the  tables  of  the  money- 
changers, scattering  the  heaped-up  gold  and  silver, 
as  a  strong  wind  scatters  the  dust  of  the  highway. 
When  the  multitude  stood  amazed  at  sight  of  one 
driving  a  ruck  of  men  and  animals  before  him  with 
a  whip  of  small  cords — for  no  one  of  them  all, 
even  of  the  priests  and  Levites,  durst  for  the  mo- 
ment withstand  him,  he  turned  to  them  and  cried 
aloud  :  '  Behold,  it  is  written,  my  house  shall  be 
called  the  house  of  prayer ;  but  ye  have  made  it  a 
den  of  thieves  !'  Ay,  verily,  it  was  a  true  word  ; 
I  could  have  told  him  so  I" 

"  Dost  thou  believe  that  he  was  the  Christ  ?" 
asked  Phannias,  under  his  breath. 

The  old  priest  shrugged  his  shoulders.  "  Do  I 
not  serve  in  the  Mountain  of  the  Lord's  House," 
he  answered,  "  and  eat  of  the  meat  of  the  sacrifices  ? 
and  shall  I  commit  folly  in  my  old  age,  as  did  cer- 
tain others  of  the  priesthood,  who  followed  him 
and  were  cast  out  to  starve?  Verily,  one  must 
live,  and  what  matters  a  belief  this  way  or  that  way 
to  a  bare  back  and  an  empty  belly." 

Phannias  stared  at  his  companion  with  frowning 
brows.  "  What  matters  a  bare  back  and  an  empty 
belly  to  one  who  would  know  the  truth  ?"  he  said 
loudly.  "  Is  a  man  even  as  the  beast  of  the  field, 
who  lifts  not  his  eyes  from  his  fodder  from  the  day 
he  is  born  till  the  day  he  falls  under  the  knife  ?" 

The   old   man   burst    into   a   cackle   of    senile 


THE  REJECTED.  105 

laughter.  "  Oh,  ay,  thou  art  a  brave  youth  and 
hast  a  nimble  tongue !  Such  as  thou  art  was  I 
also ;  but  praise  be  to  Jehovah,  who  hath  given  me 
wisdom  with  my  years.  Verily,  when  the  children 
cried  '  Hosanna  to  the  son  of  David '  in  the  Court 
of  the  Women  yonder,  I  would  have  joined  them 
but  for  my  robe. — Ay,  they  cried  '  Hosanna'  from 
the  morning  until  the  evening  sacrifice,  and  no  man 
could  stop  their  mouths !  The  Galilean  stood 
yonder,  where  thou  seest  the  woman  with  the  black 
veil, — at  my  work  here,  I  beheld  it  all ;  and  there 
the  blind  and  the  lame  came  to  him  to  be  touched. 
— Yes,  I  swear  it  by  the  great  altar,  the  blind  went 
away  seeing,  and  they  that  were  crippled  cast  away 
their  beds  and  walked,  leaping  and  praising  God ! 
It  was  a  great  day.  These  eyes  have  seen  nothing 
like  it." 

"  But  the  high  priest  and  the  councillors,"  cried 
Phannias ;  "  did  they  also  see  these  wonderful 
things  ?" 

"  They  saw,  and  heard — yes,  truly ;  but  they 
were  angry.  And  where  in  the  law  canst  thou 
find  it  written  that  a  man  may  receive  Hosannas 
in  the  temple  ?  The  Nazarene  should  have  rebuked 
them." 

"  If  he  were  the  Prince " 

"  Ay,  if  he  had  been  the  Prince  would  he  not 
have  given  us  a  sign  that  we  might  know  him  ?" 
And  Jachin  drew  himself  up  with  something  of  the 
pride  and  authority  of  his  office.  "  Verily,  we  de- 


106  THE  CEOSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

manded  such  a  sign  and  he  refused  it.  We  asked 
by  what  authority  he  did  these  things,  and  he  cast 
the  question  in  our  teeth.  '  I  will  also  ask  you  one 
thing,'  he  said,  with  the  cunning  of  a  more  learned 
than  he ;  '  the  baptism  of  John,  whence  was  it, 
from  heaven,  or  of  men  ?'  What  then  could  we 
say  ?  If  we  had  answered,  from  heaven,  he  would 
have  asked,  '  why  then  did  ye  not  believe  him  ?' 
If  we  had  affirmed  that  it  was  of  men — or  of  devils, 
as  many  of  us  also  believed,  the  people  would 
straightway  have  risen  against  us ;  for  they  were 
persuaded  that  John  was  a  prophet." 

"  And  what  said  ye  ?"  asked  Phannias,  eyeing  his 
companion  with  interest. 

This  question  was  never  answered ;  at  that  mo- 
ment a  sound  of  tumult,  of  clanging  arms,  of  voices 
that  cried  aloud,  of  hurrying  feet  startled  the 
laborers. 

"  It  will  be  another  uprising  among  the  people  !" 
whispered  the  old  priest.  "  Come,  let  us  go ; 
there  is  no  good  thing  abroad !"  And  seizing 
Phannias  by  the  arm,  he  would  have  dragged  him 
into  one  of  the  hidden  stairways  which  led  to  the 
underground  chambers  below.  But  the  Nazarite 
wrenched  himself  loose  and  darted  away  in  the  di- 
rection of  the  voices. 

What  he  presently  beheld  was  this,  a  file  of  Ro- 
man soldiers,  headed  by  a  centurion  carrying  a 
drawn  sword  in  his  hand,  in  the  act  of  emerging 
from  a  stairway  beneath  the  tower  of  the  Gate 


THE  REJECTED.  107 

Beautiful.  He  had  already  learned  of  this  subter- 
ranean passage,  which  connected  the  temple  with 
the  Roman  garrison  in  the  tower  of  Antonia ;  but 
it  was  with  a  thrill  of  horror  that  he  beheld  these 
idolatrous  Gentiles  close  to  the  sacred  wall,  upon 
which,  carven  in  letters  of  Hebrew,  of  Greek  and 
of  Latin,  were  inscriptions,  forbidding  all  such  to 
enter  under  penalty  of  death. 

Observing  the  young  man  in  his  priest's  robe  of 
service,  the  centurion,  who  had  paused  somewhat 
uncertainly  at  the  top  of  the  stairway,  beckoned 
him  to  approach.  "Where  is  the  treasure  room, 
Jew  !"  he  said  peremptorily.  "  Lead  us  hither  at 
once  ;  we  have  business  with  the  custodian." 

"  Knowest  thou  the  law,"  cried  Phannias,  his 
face  white  with  anger.  "  Get  thee  back  to  thy 
place  or  thou  shalt  die  the  death  !"  He  advanced 
threateningly,  lifting  the  knotted  stick,  which  he  had 
forgotten  to  drop  as  he  left  the  wood  room. 

The  centurion  burst  into  a  loud  laugh.  "  By  the 
girdle  of  Venus,  priest,  thou  art  bolder  than  thy 
fellows  !  Stand  aside  !  if  thou  wilt  not  answer  a 
civil  question,  we  must  even  find  the  shekels  for 
ourselves.  Seventeen  talents  is  the  sum  which 
our  master — and  yours,  Jew — hath  commanded  us 
to  fetch." 

A  sound  of  wailing  burst  forth  from  the  cloistered 
corridors  above  the  court ;  Phannias  looked  up  and 
beheld  the  white  faces  of  priests  and  Levites,  peer- 
ing down  upon  the  scene  with  manifest  terror. 


io8  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

"  Come  down  !"  he  shouted  angrily.  "  Wilt  thou 
suffer  the  heathen  to  despoil  the  Lord's  house  with- 
out striking  a  blow  ?"  an'd  lifting  his  club  he  rushed 
in  blind  fury  upon  the  centurion. 

He  was  conscious  of  delivering  a  crashing  blow 
full  on  the  helmeted  head  of  the  Roman ;  then  he 
fell  stunned  and  bleeding,  the  glittering  walls  of  the 
temple,  the  blue  sky  and  the  angry  faces  of  the 
soldiers  blending  in  a  mad  whirl  before  his  dazzled 
eyes,  as  he  sank  into  a  sightless,  soundless  deep  of 
silence  and  oblivion. 


OUT  OF  THE  DEPTHS.  109 


CHAPTER  XII. 

OUT   OF    THE    DEPTHS. 

PHANNIAS  sat  up  slowly  and  looked  about 
him.  He  beheld  a  great  chamber,  dimly 
lighted  by  certain  faint  beams,  which,  struggling 
through  a  grated  opening  overhead,  rested  like 
long  pallid  fingers  upon  a  naked  floor  of  stone. 
This  floor  stretched  away  to  meet  vague  outlines 
of  arch  and  pillar,  vast,  shadowy  and  apparently 
without  number.  Strange  sounds  filtered  with  the 
strange  light  through  the  grated  opening ;  groan- 
ing cries,  frenzied  shouts,  the  mad  rush  of  hurrying 
feet  mingled  in  a  vast,  discordant  roar,  pierced 
from  time  to  time  with  the  strident  note  of  trumpets, 
calling  one  to  the  other  like  voices. 

Phannias  passed  his  hand  across  his  aching  fore- 
head. He  could  remember  nothing ;  then  his  eye 
fell  upon  his  priest's  robe  of  service;  the  fair  white 
linen  was  darkly  spotted  and  stained. 

"The  temple!"  he  cried,  reeling  to  his  feet. 
"  My  God,  they  are  robbing  the  temple !" 

Stumbling  in  the  half  darkness  over  fallen  frag- 
ments of  stone,  he  darted  away  among  the  shadowy 
pillars,  his  ears  ringing  with  the  muffled  sounds  of 
tumult.  As  his  dazed  senses  gradually  cleared,  he 


i  io  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

slackened  his  pace  and  finally  came  to  a  full  stop. 
Not  far  distant  a  shaft  of  sunlight  fell  with  blinding 
glory  into  the  gloomy  place  and  rested,  a  pool  of 
golden  yellow,  on  the  stone  floor.  In  the  midst 
of  this  patch  of  sunshine  knelt  the  figure  of  a  priest, 
his  white  robes  shining  like  snow  in  the  brilliant 
light.  Glancing  down  with  shame  at  his  own  blood- 
stained garments,  Phannias  slowly  approached  this 
resplendent  figure,  his  bare  feet  making  no  sound 
on  the  dusty  pavement.  He  had  come  within  per- 
haps twenty  paces  of  the  kneeling  priest,  when  he 
again  stopped,  frozen  with  astonishment  and  fear. 
The  priest  had  stretched  himself  at  full  length  be- 
side an  opening,  which  in  some  mysterious  fashion 
had  yawned  at  his  feet.  He  now  reached  down 
into  an  unseen  receptacle  and  produced,  one  after 
the  other,  a  number  of  glittering  objects  which  he 
heaped  up  beside  the  aperture.  Golden  censers, 
chains,  candlesticks,  were  added  one  after  another  to 
the  shining  heap,  with  earrings,  armlets  and  jewels 
of  strange  barbaric  design  and  workmanship.  The 
priest  finally  replaced  the  stone,  glancing  furtively 
over  his  shoulder  into  the  shadowy  depths  beyond  ; 
then  he  hastily  bestowed  the  objects  in  a  sack 
which  he  drew  from  under  his  robe.  When  he 
had  finished  his  task  he  arose  and  walked  slowly 
away. 

The  Nazarite's  tongue  clave  to  the  roof  of  his 
mouth  ;  he  knew  that  he  had  witnessed  the  open- 
ing of  one  of  the  secret  treasure  vaults  of  the 


0  UT  OF  THE  DEPTHS.  1 1 1 

temple,  whose  whereabouts  and  contents  were 
known  only  to  the  chiefs  of  the  nation.  Hot  with 
shame  and  contrition  he  darted  forward. 

"  Hold,  servant  of  Jehovah  !"  he  cried,  his  voice 
rolling  in  startling  reverberations  beneath  the  low- 
springing  archways  and  falling  in  a  thousand  faint 
echoes  from  the  vaulted  roof. 

The  effect  of  these  simple  words  upon  the  retreat- 
ing figure  was  still  more  astonishing ;  the  priest 
dropped  the  sack  of  treasure,  and  falling  flat  upon 
his  face,  poured  out  a  torrent  of  indistinguishable 
words  mingled  with  frenzied  prayers  and  entreaties. 

"  I  will  atone !"  he  wailed,  tearing  at  his  gar- 
ments. "  I  swear  that  I  will  atone  !  I  will  offer 
two  score  bullocks  upon  the  altar,  and  as  many 
fatted  firstlings  ;  I  will  give  to  the  poor  a  hundred 
shekels,  and " 

"It  is  I  who  should  atone,"  said  Phannias,  stoop- 
ing over  the  prostrate  figure ;  "  I  have  seen  what 
I  ought  not  to  have  seen ;  yet  was  I  innocent  in 
the  matter,  for  I  came  to  this  place  not  knowing 
whither  I  went." 

Before  he  had  uttered  the  last  word  the  priest 
had  sprung  to  his  feet.  "  I  know  thee  now;  thou 
art  the  meddlesome  Nazarite  who  struck  at  the 
centurion,"  he  hissed,  his  face  distorted  with  rage. 
"And  wilt  thou  spy  upon  me,,  while  I  remove  the 
sacred  utensils  for  the  morrow's  service  ?"  he  drew 
back  a  pace,  his  features  settling  slowly  into  the 
mask-like  composure  of  the  officiating  priest. 


H2  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

"Thou  art  young  and  impetuous,  my  son,"  he 
continued — his  voice  no  less  changed  than  his  face; 
"thou  must  learn  discretion  with  experience.  I 
was  sorely  disturbed  in  my  sacred  functions  by  thy 
unexpected  and  unlawful  presence.  Yet  go  thy 
way  for  this  time — forgiven." 

"Where  wilt  thou  that  I  shall  go?"  asked 
Phannias, — "for  indeed  I  know  not  where  I  am 
nor  how  I  came  to  this  place." 

The  priest  pointed  to  the  soiled  and  blood-stained 
garment  with  a  gesture  of  loathing.  "  It  is  not 
lawful  for  a  priest  to  defile  himself  as  thou  hast 
done,"  he  said  coldly  ;  "thou  canst  come  no  more 
into  the  temple  till  thou  art  cleansed.  Turn  to  the 
right  hand  and  walk  fifty  paces  ;  thou  wilt  then 
perceive  how  thou  shalt  come  out  from  this  place. 
I  need  not  say  to  thee,  reveal  to  no  man  what  thou 
hast  discovered.  Go."  Checking  with  a  frown  the 
eager  words  which  trembled  on  the  lips  of  the 
Nazarite,  he  pointed  with  an  unyielding  finger  in 
the  direction  which  he  had  indicated. 

Forty  paces,  and  Phannias  found  himself  in  total 
darkness ;  but  he  went  on  blindly,  eager  to  atone 
for  his  seeming  fault.  He  began  to  count  his  steps 
aloud,  "  Forty  -three — forty-four — forty-five — "  an- 
other step  and  with  a  smothered  cry  he  dropped 
downward  into  the  blackness. 

Phannias'  first  impulse,  after  his  fearful  plunge 
into  what  appeared  to  his  dazed  senses  a  well  or 
pit,  ankle  deep  with  foul-smelling  water,  was  to 


OUT  OF  THE  DEPTHS.  113 

cry  aloud  for  help.  But  when  after  repeated 
shouts  the  silence  was  broken  by  neither  voice  nor 
footstep,  he  was  forced  to  the  conclusion  that  he 
had  been  deliberately  entrapped  and  abandoned, 
and  that  by  a  sworn  servant  of  Jehovah.  This 
thought  was  so  appalling  that  for  an  instant  it  shut 
out  all  else  from  his  mind. 

"  My  God  !"  he  groaned  aloud,  "  what  have  I 
found  in  the  house  of  thy  holiness  in  the  space  of 
a  single  day.  Cowardice,  theft,  falsehood — murder!" 

With  the  words  came  a  rush  of  fierce  anger.  He 
set  his  teeth  hard.  "  I  will  not  die  in  this  hole  like 
a  rat  in  a  trap  !"  he  cried  defiantly.  "  I  will  live  ; 
I  will  avenge  myself!" 

To  obtain  a  foothold  on  the  steep,  slippery  sides 
of  the  abyss  into  which  he  had  fallen  proved  an 
utter  impossibility ;  after  a  long  and  exhausting 
effort  he  abandoned  the  idea  of  escape  in  that  di- 
rection. As  he  groped  about  in  the  thick  dark- 
ness, he  presently  discovered  that  by  reaching  out 
his  arms  it  was  possible  to  touch  the  slimy  stones 
on  either  side ;  while  behind  and  in  front  his  out- 
stretched hand  encountered  nothing.  The  pit  was 
therefore  narrow,  and  longer  than  it  was  wide. 

After  a  little  he  ventured  to  move  forward  a 
few  paces ;  the  air  became  perceptibly  colder,  and 
the  strange,  fetid  odor  grew  almost  unendurable. 
It  occurred  to  him  to  reach  up,  and  this  time  his 
exploring  fingers  met  the  stones  of  a  low-swung 
arch,  scarce  six  inches  above  his  head.  Still  noth- 

8 


114  THE  CEOSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

ing  impeded  his  progress ;  he  walked  cautiously 
forward,  his  bare  feet  slipping  from  time  to  time  in 
the  cold  slimy  liquid  which  splashed  about  his 
ankles.  After  what  seemed  a  long  time,  during 
which  he  steadily  advanced,  he  was  conscious  that 
his  feet  were  slipping  more  and  more  frequently. 
The  passageway  was  ascending  a  sharp  incline  ;  at 
the  same  time  the  walls  suddenly  contracted  so 
that  he  was  forced  to  bend  nearly  double.  After  a 
little  he  could  only  crawl  on  hands  and  knees,  the 
foul  current  wetting  his  garments  to  the  skin. 

"My  God!"  he  murmured,  "in  what  have  I 
sinned  that  I  must  perish  more  horribly  than  a 
beast?" 

And  now  a  strange  thing  happened  ;  the  sluggish 
tide  flowed  past  him  with  a  sudden  rush  of  warmth, 
and  was  gone ;  at  the  same  instant  his  despairing 
eyes  caught  a  faint  beam  of  light,  shining  like  a 
star  in  the  impenetrable  darkness.  Light  meant 
life  and  safety.  He  redoubled  his  efforts,  observ- 
ing with  a  sense  of  relief  that  the  stones  upon  which 
he  was  now  forced  to  crawl  at  full  length  were 
almost  dry. 

Thank  God,  the  light  was  near  now ;  it  was 
almost  overhead !  He  raised  his  head  eagerly  to 
snuff  the  delicious  air  which  blew  freshly  adown 
the  passageway.  Light !  Ah  yes,  it  was  there — 
the  blessed  light,  and  not  in  one  place  alone ;  it 
filtered  through  a  dozen  small  grated  openings  set 
crosswise  in  the  stones  of  the  archway  overhead. 


OUT  OF  TILE  DEPTHS.  115 

Turning  about  with  the  greatest  difficulty — for 
the  walls  had  now  contracted  to  such  dimensions 
that  he  could  scarce  force  his  body  along,  Phan- 
nias  raised  his  head  to  one  of  these  orifices. 
"  Help  !"  he  cried  loudly,  "  Help — for  the  love  of 
God  !  I  am  perishing  in  this  place  !" 

As  if  in  answer  to  his  cry  a  great  chorus,  soft- 
ened by  unknown  distance  into  unearthly  sweet- 
ness, burst  forth  with  that  angel's  song  of  faith  : 

"  Yea,  though  I  walk  through  the  vale  of  deep  shadow 

— even  the  shadow  of  death, 
I  shall  not  fear  evil ; 
For  thou  art  with  me ; 
Thy  rod  and  thy  staff  they  comfort  me  !" 

Yet  further  away  and  more  faintly,  like  the  sound 
of  long  waves  on  the  sand-strewn  beach,  came  the 
responsive  "  Allelujah  !"  of  a  great  congregation. 

Phannias  stared  wildly  about  his  narrow  prison. 
"  Where  am  I  ?"  he  cried.  His  eyes  fell  upon  his 
sodden  garments  ;  they  were  dyed  to  the  waist  a  dull, 
purplish  red,  as  he  remembered  to  have  seen  the 
garments  of  the  wine-makers  in  the  joyous  vintage 
days.  He  touched  them  shudderingly,  his  brain 
reeling  with  the  awful  conviction  which  had  forced 
itself  upon  him. 

"  Surely  goodness  and  mercy  shall  follow  me  all  the 

days  of  my  life ; 
And  I  shall  dwell  in  the  house  of  Jehovah  forever !" 

chanted  the  distant  voices,  as  if  in  an  ecstasy  of 


n6  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

gratitude ;  a  clash  of  silver-tongued  instruments 
answered  them,  mingled  with  great  Amens. 

A  sound  of  sonorous  words  of  benediction  spoken 
almost  above  his  head  roused  the  young  priest 
from  the  apathy  of  despair  into  which  he  had 
fallen.  He  started  up,  and  seized  the  nearest 
grating  with  both  hands  ;  the  golden  bars  yielded 
to  his  grasp  like  wisps  of  straw.  "  Help  !  Help  ! 
Help!"  he  shouted,  and  fell  half  fainting  against 
the  slimy  stones  of  his  prison. 

The  priest  who  was  officiating  at  the  great  altar 
of  the  temple  started  back  with  an  ashen  face ; 
then  he  bowed  himself  with  an  evil  smile.  "  Thanks 
be  to  Jehovah  that  the  lot  fell  upon  no  other  than 
myself  for  this  service !"  he  murmured. 

Advancing  to  the  front  of  the  altar  before  the 
startled  congregation,  he  lifted  his  arms  toward 
heaven  with  a  gesture  of  awe  and  adoration.  "  A 
miracle,  sons  of  Abraham  !"  he  cried.  "  Behold  a 
voice  from  under  the  holy  altar  at  the  time  of  the 
third  sprinkling  ;  and  it  cried,  saying,  Help  !  What 
then  can  this  portend,  save  that  Jehovah  will  gra- 
ciously vouchsafe  the  help  of  his  arm  to  save  his 
afflicted  people  !" 

He  paused,  and  the  wondering  assembly,  to  a 
man,  leaned  forward  breathless  to  listen.  The 
faint  cry  was  presently  repeated,  proceeding  it 
seemed  from  the  very  depths  of  the  altar,  where 
the  ashes  of  the  evening  sacrifice  yet  smoked 
dully. 


OUT  OF  THE  DEPTHS.  117 

"Help!"  wailed  the  mysterious  voice,  "in  the 
name  of  Jehovah  of  hosts  !  Help  ! — Help  !" 

With  a  wild  cry  of  mingled  terror  and  joy  the 
people  fell  upon  their  faces.  Centuries  had  elapsed 
with  neither  voice  nor  sign  ;  but  now  surely  the 
God  of  Hosts  had  proven  that  Israel  was  not  for- 
gotten. 

The  officiating  priest  motioned  authoritatively  to 
the  Levites,  and  the  closing  chant  burst  forth,  blent 
with  the  silver  blare  of  trumpets  ;  in  the  midst  of 
which,  according  to  prescribed  custom,  the  won- 
dering people  slowly  dispersed. 

An  hour  later,  as  the  priest  passed  slowly  along 
the  corridor  leading  from  the  Hall  of  Robes,  he 
was  accosted  by  one  of  the  chiefs  of  the  Levites. 

"  A  pretty  diversion  thou  didst  graciously  fur- 
nish for  the  people  to-night,  my  Pharez ;  but  it 
will  fail  of  its  purpose.  They  are  swarming  before 
Antonia  like  angry  bees.  Blood  will  flow  before 
morning,  and  in  streams  which  will  wipe  out  the 
memory  of  the  lost  treasure." 

The  priest  stopped  short  with  a  scowl.  "A 
pretty  diversion,  sayst  thou  ?"  he  said  angrily.  "  I 
swear  to  you  that  what  I  said  to  the  people  was 
true.  Didst  thou  not  hear  the  voice  ?" 

"Ay,  truly,  I  heard  it — all  who  were  fitly  fur- 
nished with  ears  heard  it  also.  But  now — betwixt 
us  ;  who  arranged  the  matter  ?  Our  revered  high 
priest  is  more  daring  than  his  fellows  if  he  would 
meddle  for  political  purposes  with  the  high  altar. 


n8  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

For  myself  I  fear  nothing — not  even  the  Holy 
Place,  since  I  helped  repair  the  great  veil ;  but  the 
altar!" 

"  Canst  thou  not  see  that  I  am  absorbed  in 
prayer?"  said  Pharez  coldly;  "I  may  not  speak 
with  thee  further." 

The  Levite  turned  away  with  a  shrug,  while  the 
priest,  after  watching  his  retreating  figure  till  it  was 
well  out  of  sight,  unlocked  a  small  door  to  the 
right  of  the  corridor.  "  I  must  see  if  he  be  there 
still,"  he  muttered. 

Arrived  at  the  place  of  sacrifice  by  a  secret  pas- 
sageway known  only  to  the  priests,  he  sought  care- 
fully for  the  broken  grating  in  the  conduit  for  the 
sacrificial  blood  which  surrounded  the  great  altar. 

"  Art  thou  there,  Nazarite  ?"  he  whispered  loudly, 
applying  his  mouth  to  the  spot,  which  he  had  found 
with  ease.  He  repeated  the  question  thrice,  and  at 
every  opening  which  communicated  with  the  sub- 
terranean drain  below,  but  when  there  was  neither 
sound  nor  motion,  he  straightened  himself.  "  He 
is  already  dead,"  he  muttered,  with  a  sigh  of  relief. 


IN  THE  NEW  OF  THE  MOON.  119 


CHAPTER  XIII. 
IN   THE   NEW   OF   THE   MOON. 

ON  a  certain  narrow  and  tortuous  street  of 
Jerusalem,  in  that  part  of  the  city  called 
indifferently  the  inner  Low  Town  and  the  Agra, 
there  once  stood  an  ancient  and  shabby  house. 
This  house  was  by  no  means  remarkable  in  its 
appearance,  squeezed  in  as  it  was  in  the  midst  of 
a  long  row  of  buildings  every  one  of  which  was 
quite  as  shabby  and  as  ancient  as  itself.  The  up- 
per stories  of  all  of  these  dwellings  leaned  tipsily 
forward  as  if  to  hobnob  with  their  venerable  neigh- 
bors on  the  opposite  side  of  the  street ;  indeed,  so 
close  was  their  intimacy  that  the  red  eye  of  the 
sun  seldom  looked  upon  the  yellow  dust  mingled 
with  evil  smelling  refuse  which  paved  the  street 
level. 

The  Agra  itself  was  nothing  more  nor  less  than 
a  bewildering  labyrinth  of  these  same  gloomy  and 
crooked  streets,  so  densely  inhabited  that  the  flat 
roofs  of  the  squat  houses  formed,  as  it  were,  a 
second  and  airier  thoroughfare  on  which  it  was 
possible  to  walk  from  the  Broad  Wall  to  the  Tem- 
ple Mount.  From  the  frowning  battlements  of 
Antonia  the  Roman  guard,  pacing  ceaselessly  to 


120  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

and  fro,  commanded  alike  the  spacious  courts  of 
the  temple  and  the  swarming  streets  of  the  Low 
Town.  The  dominant  Gentile  looked  down  upon 
both  with  the  fine  indifference  of  one  who  surveys 
an  ant  hill  at  his  feet,  which  he  may  or  may  not 
crush  into  nothingness  as  the  whim  seizes  him. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  Agra,  immersed  in  busi- 
ness, in  politics,  or  in  a  stringent  observance  of 
laws  and  customs,  paused  long  enough  from  time 
to  time  to  breathe  a  comprehensive  curse  upon  all 
Gentiles ;  but  in  the  main  they  were  too  much 
occupied  with  their  own  affairs  to  waste  time  or 
breath  upon  the  inevitable.  Rome  had  become  the 
inevitable. 

Ezra  Ben  Ethan,  owner  of  the  ancient  and 
shabby  dwelling  already  mentioned,  stood  upon 
the  roof  of  his  house  at  the  hour  of  sunset  en- 
gaged in  prayer.  He  was  a  small,  yellow,  sour- 
looking  Jew,  chiefly  furnished  as  to  countenance 
with  a  pair  of  ferret  eyes  and  a  rusty  irregular 
beard,  which  scantily  clothed  his  prominent  chin, 
and  over  which  presided  a  hooked  nose  apparently 
many  sizes  too  large  for  his  pursed-up  mouth. 
Praying,  according  to  law,  with  his  face  turned 
toward  the  temple,  he  found  himself  unpleasantly 
dazzled  by  the  sparks  of  splendor  which  the  setting 
sun  struck  from  the  slow-moving  shields  and  hel- 
mets on  the  walls  of  Antonia.  Whereat,  having 
at  his  command  a  period  of  leisure  and  a  rich  va- 
riety of  defamatory  phrases,  derived  about  equally 


IN  THE  NEW  OF  THE  MOON.  121 

from  a  devout  study  of  the  denunciatory  Psalms 
and  a  residence  of  some  fifty  years  in  the  Agra, 
Ben  Ethan  proceeded  to  launch  a  series  of  anathe- 
mas at  the  offending  soldiers,  coupled  with  im- 
passioned petitions  to  Jehovah  for  their  general 
undoing. 

"How  long,  O  Lord!"  he  demanded  shrilly, 
"  how  long  shall  yonder  idolatrous  Gentiles  stand 
upon  the  bulwarks  of  Jerusalem  ?  How  long  shall 
they  go  to  and  fro  upon  the  walls  of  Zion  ?  Let 
them  be  torn  limb  from  limb  !  Let  them  be  cast 
in  heaps  in  the  valley,  where  there  shall  be  none  to 
bury  them  !  Let  their  tongues  dry  up  betwixt  their 
teeth,  and  let  the  young  ravens  pluck  out  their  eyes 
to  devour  them  !  Bring  down  their  lying  looks 
unto  the  dust,  O  Lord  !  Give  their  rulers  to  Israel 
for  a  prey  !  Smite  them  with  the  sword  ;  send  mur- 
rain and  pestilence  upon  them  !  Scorch  them  with 
the  sun  of  thy  heavens ;  drown  them  in  the  floods 
of  thy  deep  !  Cause  wild  beasts  to  devour  them  ; 
let  their  bones  rot  within  their  flesh  ;  and  let — What 
now,  Merodah  ?  Canst  thou  not  leave  me  alone, 
girl,  whilst  I  pray  for  the  peace  of  Jerusalem  ?" 

The  intruder — a  maid  of  perhaps  fifteen  years, 
and  delicately  lovely  as  a  half-opened  flower — bent 
her  head  meekly.  "  I  pray  thee  of  thy  goodness 
that  thou  wilt  pardon  me,  my  father,"  she  said  ;  "  I 
did  not  know  that  thou  wast  still  at  prayer.  But 
it  is  true  that  one  waits  below  who  would  speak 
with  thee  on  a  matter  of  importance." 


122  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

"  'Twill  be  Simon,  the  publican,  for  the  taxes," 
snarled  Ben  Ethan,  wagging  his  beard ;  "  but  I 
will  not  pay  him — I  have  sworn  that  I  will  not  pay 
— until  the  feast  of  weeks." 

"It  is  not  Simon,"  said  the  girl  slowly;  "the 
man  is  a  stranger.  I  think" — she  continued,  with 
a  pretty  air  of  sagacity — "  that  he  wishes  to  hire 
our  upper  room." 

Ben  Ethan  did  not  wait  to  hear  more.  His 
upper  room  had  been  unlet  for  more  than  two 
months  already ;  he  wished  to  hire  it  even  more 
than  he  wished  to  pray.  Having  presently  satis- 
fied himself  by  a  noiseless  inspection  through  the 
peephole  over  his  courtyard  stair  that  the  man  who 
still  waited  in  the  street  was  not  the  despised  col- 
lector of  taxes,  he  flung  wide  the  door.  "  I  pray 
thee,  worshipful  stranger,  that  thou  wilt  honor  my 
poor  abode  by  stepping  over  its  threshold."  And 
he  bowed  himself  before  the  man  who  stood  with- 
out. "  How  is  it  that  I,  the  son  of  Ethan,  may 
serve  thee?" 

The  stranger  acknowledged  the  salutation  with  a 
grave,  "  Peace  be  with  thee  and  with  thy  house." 
He  stepped  as  he  spoke  into  the  courtyard  and 
closed  the  door  behind  him.  "  I  am  told,"  he  said, 
casting  a  pair  of  singularly  bright  dark  eyes  about  the 
place,  "  that  there  is  in  this  house  an  upper  chamber 
of  fair  size,  with  an  outside  staircase  leading  to  the 
street  in  the  rear,  and  that  this  chamber  may  be  hired 
for  a  reasonable  sum;  am  I  rightly  inforrrted?" 


AV  THE  NEW  OF  THE  MOON.  123 

"  An  upper  chamber  indeed,  spacious  beyond 
one's  belief,  honored  sir,"  replied  Ben  Ethan  with 
a  comprehensive  wave  of  the  hand.  He  was  ob- 
serving with  displeasure  that  his  would-be  tenant 
displayed  no  signs  of  opulence  in  his  dress,  and 
that  the  pouch  at  his  girdle  was  unpromisingly 
lean.  "  It  is  true  that  it  may  be  hired — yes,  and 
for  a  sum — Pst,  it  is  nothing  !  To  the  right  party 
— thou  mayst  understand  without  offense  ;  for  my- 
self I  am  a  keeper  of  the  law ;  I  also " 

"  Show  me  the  room,"  interrupted  the  stranger, 
but  without  rudeness  ;  "  it  will  save  us  both  mo- 
ments which  have  a  value  beyond  gold." 

Ben  Ethan  looked  hard  at  his  visitor.  "A  value 
beyond  gold,"  he  repeated  tentatively;  "  ah,  yes, 
assuredly  !  Thou  art,  perchance,  a  merchant, 
seeking  gain  in  Jerusalem.  If  it  be  a  place 
wherein  to  bestow  thy  goods  in  safety,  I  can 
promise  thee — But  come  this  way,  thou  shalt  see 
for  thyself." 

"  I  am  not  a  merchant,"  said  the  stranger  tran- 
quilly, as  the  two  men  ascended  the  stair;  "nor 
have  I  goods  to  bestow  here  or  elsewhere.  I  will 
tell  thee  plainly  the  room  is  wanted  for  a  meeting- 
place  by  certain  godly  persons,  known  in  Jerusalem 
as  Nazarenes,  in  divers  other  places  as  Christians." 

Ben  Ethan  stopped  short  for  an  instant.  "  Naza- 
renes !"  he  muttered  under  his  breath.  "  Now  may 
the  God  of  Abraham  smite  me  if  I  let  my  room  to 
such. — But  hold,  I  have  said  nothing.  This  is  the 


1 24  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

chamber,  good  sir,"  he  said  aloud;  "and  a  more 
commodious,  for  the  money,  cannot  be  found  with- 
in the  walls  of  Jerusalem.  What  sayest  thou?" 

The  other  looked  about  him  with  a  well-satisfied 
air.  The  room  was  indeed  of  sufficient  size  to  ac- 
commodate quite  a  company ;  it  was  moreover 
scrupulously  clean,  and  lighted  by  a  large  latticed 
window  which  overhung  the  street.  "  The  place 
will  serve  our  purpose,"  he  said.  "  It  is  under- 
stood that  we  shall  be  undisturbed  in  our  worship," 
— fixing  his  keen  dark  eyes  upon  Ben  Ethan — "  to 
which  thou  and  thy  household  will  be  welcome." 

Ben  Ethan  shrugged  his  shoulders  and  spread 
abroad  his  palms.  "  What  with  the  required  at- 
tendance at  the  temple — to  make  nothing  of  holy 
days  and  feast  days  and  fasts  and  sabbaths  and  new 
moons,  there  be  scarce  hours  left  in  the  which  an 
honest  man  may  gain  his  bread.  No  manna  drops 
from  heaven  in  these  hard  times,  and  the  Romans 
devour  the  land. — Not  that  I  grudge  the  Almighty 
his  dues,"  he  added,  with  an  obeisance  temple- 
ward  ;  "  but  to  worship  a  dead  man — however 
righteous  he  may  have  been  in  his  lifetime  !  now, 
that  appears  to  me  a  strange  thing  to  ask  of  a  law- 
abiding  Jew  ;  is  it  not  so  ?" 

The  stranger's  eye  kindled.  "  Jesus  of  Naza- 
reth was  the  Messiah  of  Israel,"  he  declared  sol- 
emnly. "  Nay,  more,  he  was  the  Saviour  of  the 
world  !" 

Ben  Ethan  wagged  his  head.     "  A  Messiah  spit 


Z.V  THE  NEW  OF  THE  MOON.  125 

upon  !"  he  cried  shrilly.  "  A  Messiah  scourged  ! 
A  Messiah  crucified  ! — Nay,  I  myself  saw  it,  young 
man,  a  matter  of  thirty  years  ago  !  But  no,  we 
will  not  speak  further  of  the  matter  ;  it  pleases  thee 
to  believe  in  this  man — this  carpenter  of  Galilee, 
crucified,  dead  and  buried ;  it  pleases  me  to  look 
for  a  king  who  shall  deliver  Israel  from  the  hand 
of  the  Gentiles,  and  that  right  gloriously.  We 
will  not  quarrel.  Thou  shalt  have  my  upper 
room  for  the  sum  specified ;  as  for  myself,  I  am  a 
poor  man,  the  hire  will  pay  my  taxes — for  heaven 
bear  me  witness,  I  knew  not  whence  the  money 
was  to  come !" 

When  half  an  hour  later  Ben  Ethan  returned  to 
the  roof,  he  found  his  daughter  perched  upon  the 
highest  ledge  of  the  parapet.  "  Oh  father,"  she 
cried  eagerly,  without  turning  her  head,  "it  is  com- 
ing— I  am  sure  it  is  coming !  See,  just  behind  the 
hill  yonder,  there  is  a  glow !  Yes,  truly," — and 
the  girl  clapped  her  hands  ecstatically,  "  it  is  the 
holy — the  blessed  new  moon  !" 

"Veil  of  the  temple!"  ejaculated  Ben  Ethan,  "it 
is  a  good  omen — a  good  omen  !  The  Nazarene 
and  the  new  moon  in  one  night !"  He  burst  into 
a  cackling  laugh,  abruptly  suppressed  as  he  climbed 
nimbly  up  beside  the  girl.  "  I  see  no  moon  !"  he 
cried  testily,  straining  his  wrinkled  eyelids  toward 
the  western  horizon. 

"But  yes,  dear  father,"  cooed  Merodah,  laying 
her  slim  hand  soothingly  on  his  shoulder ;  "  its 


126  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

slender  tip  pierces  yonder  cluster  of  palms  like  a 
silver  arrow.  I  see  it  quite  plainly." 

"  Then  I  shall  go  to  the  temple,"  said  Ben  Ethan 
decidedly  ;  "  no  need  to  lose  a  feast.  God  grant 
that  I  get  there  in  due  season  !  I  missed  it  last 
month  by  a  hair's  breadth." 

Left  to  herself  the  girl  softly  repeated  the  bene- 
dictions to  the  new  moon,  her  eyes  fastened  upon 
the  slender  crescent  which  now  hung  like  a  flaming 
sickle  over  the  brow  of  Olivet : 

"  Blessed  be  he  who  reneweth  the  months  ! 
Blessed  be  he  by  whose  word  the  heavens  were  created, 
And  by  the  breath  of  whose  mouth  all  the  hosts  thereof 

were  formed ! 
He  appointeth  them  a  law  and  a  season,  that  they  should 

not  overstep  their  course  ! 
They  rejoice  and  are  glad  to  perform  the  will  of  their 

Creator ! 

Author  of  truth,  thy  goings  are  truth  ! 
He  hath  spoken  to  the  moon  :  Be  thou  renewed  and  be  the 

beautiful  diadem  of  Israel — 

Who  shall  herself  be  quickened  again,  like  to  the  moon  ! 
And  praise  Jehovah  for  his  glorious  kingdom  ! 
Amen  and  amen !" 

The  girl  felt  very  happy  when  she  had  finished 
repeating  this  prayer  ;  for  did  not  the  rabbis  declare 
that  whoso  sayeth  the  benediction  of  the  new  moon 
in  its  proper  time  is  as  one  who  holds  converse 
with  the  shining  presence  of  the  Godhead  ?  She  sat 
for  a  long  time  in  the  fragrant  cool  of  the  evening, 
her  face  turned  upward  to  the  heavens  like  a  flower, 
innocent  and  full  of  peace. 


IN  THE  NEW  OF  THE  MOON.  127 

As  for  that  excellent  and  law-abiding  Israelite, 
Ben  Ethan,  he  was  making  his  way  with  all  possi- 
ble speed  toward  the  temple,  where  in  a  certain 
court,  called  Beth  Jazek,  a  feast  was  provided  every 
month  for  the  devout  witnesses  of  the  new  moon. 

The  spiritual  rulers  of  the  nation  had  ordained 
that  beside  the  specially  appointed  messengers  of 
the  Sanhedrim,  who  were  set  to  watch  the  sky 
from  commanding  heights  in  and  about  the  city, 
any  person — gamblers  with  dice,  usurers,  traders  in 
the  produce  of  the  Sabbatical  year,  women  and 
slaves  excepted — was  permitted  to  give  evidence 
of  the  blessed  appearance  of  the  new  moon.  And 
not  only  permitted,  but  urged — nay,  enticed  by  po- 
tent inducements  in  the  shape  of  divers  meats  and 
drinks,  provided  for  the  occasion  by  the  temple  au- 
thorities. It  may  be  believed  therefore  that  a  great 
concourse  of  the  pious,  who  were  also  blessed  with 
good  appetites,  assembled  on  such  occasions  before 
the  gates  of  Beth  Jazek.  Indeed  so  great  was  the 
eagerness  to  perform  this  act  of  service  that  of  late 
years  it  had  become  necessary  to  close  the  gate  after 
a  certain  number  of  witnesses  had  been  admitted. 

Ben  Ethan  licked  his  lips  hungrily  as  he  scuttled 
along  through  street  and  alley  toward  the  temple 
mount.  "  Jehovah  grant  that  the  gates  remain  wide 
till  I  reach  them  !"  he  ejaculated.  "  It  will  save  me 
a  meal  ;  also,  with  his  blessing,  I  shall  be  able  to 
fetch  away  under  my  garment  enough  victual  for 
to-morrow." 


128  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

By  way  of  further  propitiating  an  observant 
deity,  he  repeated  the  benedictions  to  the  new 
moon,  adding  with  a  hasty  obeisance :  "  A  good 
sign,  good  fortune  be  to  all  Israel !  Blessed  be  thy 
Creator !  Blessed  be  thy  Possessor  !  Blessed  be 
thy  Maker!  As  I  leap  toward  thee,  but  cannot 
touch  thee,  so  may  my  enemies  be  unable  to  injure 
me !  May  fear  and  anguish  seize  upon  them ! 
Through  the  greatness  of  thine  arm  may  they  be- 
come as  still  as  a  stone.  Fear  and  anguish  shall 
seize  them  !  Amen  !  Selah  !  Hallelujah  !  Peace — 
peace — peace  be  with  thee  !" 

Arrived  at  the  temple,  Ben  Ethan,  with  the  dex- 
terity born  of  long  practice,  proceeded  to  force  his 
way  through  the  eager  multitude  already  assembled 
before  Beth  Jazek.  Being  small  of  stature  he 
could  dodge  and  double,  twist  and  turn  with  extra- 
ordinary ease  and  agility  ;  also  he  knew  to  a  nicety 
just  how  and  when  to  apply  a  prod  of  the  elbow, 
a  sly  kick  in  the  calves,  or  a  grind  of  the  sandal 
heel  on  unprotected  toes.  He  was  therefore  en- 
abled to  squeeze  his  lean  person  triumphantly  in- 
side the  gates  just  as  they  were  closing,  his  victory 
over  adverse  circumstances  and  the  crowd  of  dis- 
appointed faces  without  only  serving  to  whet  his 
enjoyment. 

A  perfunctory  examination  of  certain  of  the  wit- 
nesses having  confirmed  the  fact  of  the  reappear- 
ance of  the  moon,  already  reported  by  the  official 
messengers,  the  chief  of  the  Sanhedrim  pronounced 


IN  THE  NEW  OF  THE  MOON.  129 

the  solemn  word  :  "  It  is  sanctified  !"  Whereupon 
all  the  witnesses,  the  priests  and  the  Levites  cried 
aloud  :  "  It  is  sanctified  !" 

"Alas — alas  !"  shrilled  a  strident  voice.  "Alas 
for  Jerusalem  !  What  profiteth  the  blessed  coming 
of  the  new  moon  ?  What  profiteth  joyous  feast 
or  solemn  fast,  when  the  holy  temple  is  defiled  with 
the  iniquitous  feet  of  Gentiles,  and  its  treasure  is 
seized  by  bloody  and  violent  men  !  Sons  of  Abra- 
ham, the  procurator,  Florus,  hath  seized  seventeen 
talents  from  the  temple  treasury!" 

At  this  word  a  tumult  indescribable  broke  out. 
Cries,  questionings,  curses,  wailing,  in  the  midst 
of  which  the  excited  multitude  burst  out  of  Beth 
Jazek  and  rushed  away  to  the  Court  of  Israel,  un- 
mindful of  the  heaped-up  viands  which  they  tram- 
pled under  foot  in  their  mad  haste.  Ben  Ethan 
lingered  behind  to  stow  away  beneath  his  abba 
sundry  savory  morsels  which  had  escaped  the  gen- 
eral destruction. 

"  Veil  of  the  temple  !"  he  muttered,  "  if  the  times 
be  evil  the  more  need  to  look  to  one's  victual !" 


130  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

A    SINGER    OF    HYMNS. 

THE  Christian — who  was  known  as  Rufus,  after 
completing  his  bargain  with  Ben  Ethan  for 
the  hire  of  the  upper  room,  went  quickly  away, 
with  the  air  of  one  well  satisfied.  He  too  beheld 
the  slender  horn  of  the  new  moon  swimming  in  the 
dusky  glow  over  Olivet,  but  he  neither  bowed  him- 
self nor  uttered  the  words  of  the  ancient  liturgy. 
As  he  passed  a  group  of  Pharisees  standing  upon 
the  corner  of  a  street  mouthing  their  prayers  and 
gesticulating  extravagantly  after  their  custom,  cer- 
tain ominous  words,  which  he  had  read  that  day 
from  the  scroll  of  the  prophets,  rushed  to  his  lips. 
"  Hear  the  word  of  the  Lord,  ye  rulers  of  an  evil 
generation  !  Bring  no  more  vain  oblations ;  in- 
cense is  an  abomination  unto  me ;  the  new  moons 
and  sabbaths,  the  calling  of  assemblies  I  will  do 
away ;  it  is  iniquity — even  the  solemn  meeting. 
Your  new  moons  and  your  appointed  feasts  my 
soul  hateth.  When  ye  spread  forth  your  hands,  I 
will  hide  mine  eyes  from  you  ;  yea,  when  ye  make 
many  prayers  I  will  not  hear.  Your  hands  are 
full  of  blood !" 

The  young  man   lifted   his  eyes  to  the  stately 


A  SINGER  OF  HYMNS.  131 

mass  of  the  temple  buildings  which  towered  above 
the  city  in  solemn  grandeur,  and  above  which 
floated  the  trailing  smoke  of  the  altar  fires.  "What 
must  be  the  end  of  it  all  ?"  he  mused.  "How  shall 
we,  who  believe  in  the  crucified  Christ,  have  fel- 
lowship with  them  who  slew  our  Lord — who  would 
also  destroy  us,  body  and  soul?" 

These  questions  were  being  asked  by  more  than 
one  follower  of  the  risen  Jesus.  They  were  answered 
in  diverse  fashion.  Certain  in  Jerusalem  who  be- 
lieved were  of  the  strictest  sect  of  the  Pharisees ; 
keepers  of  the  law,  loving  the  ritual  of  the  temple, 
its  sacrificial  rites,  its  feasts  and  fast  days;  adhering 
rigidly  to  all  the  endless  minutiae  which  scribe  and 
rabbi  had  laboriously  fashioned  from  the  Levitical 
laws. 

"  The  Messiah  has  come  !"  cried  these  believers 
in  the  meek  and  lowly  carpenter  of  Nazareth  ; 
"  keep  ye  the  law  of  Moses  !  Jesus  is  the  Messiah 
of  Israel ;  therefore  become  Jews  !" 

These  Pharisaical  Christians  busied  themselves 
devoutly  in  vain  attempts  to  patch  the  yawning 
rents  in  the  robe  of  Judaism  with  the  strong  new 
cloth  of  the  kingdom.  They  traveled  into  far 
countries,  visiting  the  scattered  handfuls  of  believ- 
ers who  had  been  wrested  from  heathen  darkness  by 
the  labors  of  a  Paul  or  a  Barnabas.  "The  men  who 
have  taught  you  are  grievously  mistaken,"  they 
declared;  "ye  cannot  be  saved  except  ye  keep 
the  law  of  Moses."  Whereat  the  converts,  rejoic- 


I32  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

ing  in  the  beautiful  simplicity  of  the  new  faith,  fell 
straightway  into  doubt  and  anguish  of  mind. 

Other  eyes  there  were  which  saw  with  a  clearer 
vision  ;  other  voices,  crying  out  a  far  different  mes- 
sage. "  Old  things  have  passed  away  ;  behold  all 
things  are  become  new !  Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  and  thou  shalt  be  saved  !  It  is  not  possible 
that  the  blood  of  bulls  and  goats  should  take  away 
sin ;  but  this  Jesus,  after  he  had  offered  one  sacri- 
fice for  sins  forever,  is  set  down  on  the  right  hand 
of  God  !" 

Rufus  was  a  Jewish  proselyte  ;  he  was  also  a 
convert  to  the  faith  of  Christ ;  but  in  Jerusalem  he 
had  been  forced  constantly  to  remember  the  first 
of  these  two  facts.  Therefore  it  was  that  he  sighed 
deeply,  as  he  beheld  the  smoke  of  the  evening  sac- 
rifice rising  into  the  solemn  heavens  like  a  ghost  of 
the  dead. 

As  the  young  man  hastily  threaded  the  narrow 
streets,  emerging  now  and  again  into  the  wider 
market  squares,  he  observed  that  these  places  were 
unusually  full  of  people ;  and  that  here  and  there 
single  voices  raised  in  excited  harangue  sounded 
above  the  loud  hum  of  the  crowd.  These  voices 
were  not  discoursing  upon  the  appearance  of  the 
new  moon,  but  of  some  outrage  perpetrated  by  the 
lawless  Roman,  Florus,  under  whose  rule  unhappy 
Jerusalem  had  writhed  for  more  than  a  year. 

Rufus  would  have  gone  his  way  without  paying 
further  heed  to  the  matter  which  for  the  moment 


A  SINGER  OF  HYMNS.  133 

agitated  the  popular  mind  ;  tumults  were  common 
occurrences  in  the  crowded  Agra,  as  he  was  well 
aware.  A  detachment  of  Roman  soldiers  would,  in 
all  likelihood,  shortly  appear  on  the  scene  ;  arrests 
would  follow,  likewise  scourgings,  for  which  pur- 
pose a  peaceable  Greek  would  answer  quite  as  well 
as  a  turbulent  Jew.  He  frowned  impatiently  as  the 
eddying  crowd  forced  him  back  against  the  stall  of 
a  fruit-vender.  The  merchant  leaned  forward  and 
plucked  him  by  the  sleeve. 

"  Hast  thou  come  from  Antonia?"  he  asked  ex- 
citedly; then  without  waiting  for  an  answer,  "They 
threaten  to  pull  the  castle  about  the  ears  of  the 
thieving  Gentile  unless  he  restores  the  treasure. 
Sacred  fire  !  but  I  believe  every  man,  woman  and 
child  in  the  Agra — ay,  and  in  the  whole  city — is 
on  the  move  !  The  Roman  may  repent  him  of  his 
folly." 

"To  seize  the  treasure  was  an  outrage,"  said  the 
young  Greek  tranquilly  ;  "  but  the  people  will  gain 
nothing  for  themselves  by  making  a  tumult." 

"  A  murrain  on  thee  for  an  unwashed  Gentile  !" 
cried  a  strident  voice  close  to  his  ear.  "  The  day 
has  come  to  throw  off  the  Roman  yoke  !  Blood  ! 
Blood  !  The  time  is  ripe  for  blood  !"  The  speaker 
— by  the  token  of  his  cap  and  apron  an  apprentice 
in  the  shop  of  the  baker  hard  by — clambered 
nimbly  to  the  top  of  the  stall  still  bellowing, 
"  Blood — blood  !"  with  all  the  strength  of  his  lungs. 

"Offspring  of  a  mule  !"  cried  the  fruit-vender  in 


134  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

a  rage.  "  Wilt  thou  ruin  my  trade  with  thy  bray- 
ing ?  Get  thee  down  from  my  stall,  or  blood  will 
flow  of  a  surety ! — Here,  you  Gentile,  help  me 
catch  the  knave  and  I  will  reward  thee  !" 

But  Rufus  was  already  beyond  hearing.  He 
reached  the  nearest  gate  without  further  incident  ; 
passed  through,  and  was  presently  making  his  way 
into  the  deep  shadows  of  the  valley  of  Jehoshaphat. 
Here  the  dull  roar  of  the  rapidly  increasing  mob 
about  Antonia  was  swallowed  up  and  lost  in  the 
large  calm  of  the  summer  night.  Out  of  the  cool, 
green  depths  rose  the  hoary  walls  of  the  city, 
builded  of  "  goodly  stones,"  "  compact  together" 
with  tears  and  prayers  and  blood ;  crowned  with 
the  temple  as  with  a  diadem.  On  the  further  side 
of  the  valley  lay  the  Mount  of  Olives,  ascending  in 
gentle  slopes  and  terraces,  clothed  almost  to  its 
summit  with  gardens  and  orchards.  Rufus  could 
already  distinguish  a  twinkling  star  of  light  amid 
the  clustered  olive  trees,  which  revealed  the  where- 
abouts of  the  tiny  whitewashed  hut  which  he  called 
home. 

The  young  Greek  was  a  vine-dresser ;  he  was 
also,  like  many  of  his  countrymen,  something  of  a 
poet.  As  he  tranquilly  pursued  his  way  along  the 
narrow  road  which  skirted  the  city  wall,  the  beauty 
of  the  rosy  evening  sky  and  the  calm  and  peace  of 
the  green  valley  filled  him  with  happiness.  He 
therefore  lifted  up  his  voice,  which  was  both  sweet 
and  far  reaching,  and  began  to  sing,  or  rather 


A  SINGER  OF  HYMNS.  135 

chant,  the  words  of  a  hymn  which  he  had  him- 
self composed,  and  which  was  already  well  loved 
by  the  Christians  of  Jerusalem  : 

"Jesus— Christ,  glad  Light  of  the  Highest! 
Light  of  the  Father,  radiant,  holy  ! 
While  the  night  spreads  its  dim  mantle  o'er  us, 
We  worship  the  light  which  hath  shined — 
Which  hath  shined  in  the  darkness  ! 
Praise  to  thee,  Father  !     Praise  to  thee,  Jesus  ! 
Worthy  art  thou  to  be  praised  of  the  holiest, 
Now  and  forever  ;  all  days  and  eternally, 
Beloved  of  God,  who  givest  us  life  !"* 

As  the  last  words  fell  from  the  lips  of  the  singer, 
he  stopped  short  and  listened  attentively.  He 
thought  that  a  voice  had  called  to  him  from  above. 
Looking  cautiously  about  among  the  shrubs  and 
bushes  which  thrust  themselves  over  his  path  out 
of  the  gathering  darkness,  he  wrapped  his  abba 
more  closely  about  his  shoulder  and  hurried  on ; 
reflecting,  not  without  a  sense  of  discomfort,  on  the 
fact  that  the  country  had  of  late  been  plagued  by 
wandering  bands  of  robbers,  who  made  no  more  of 
the  life  of  a  wayfarer  than  of  a  draught  of  sour 
wine.  Again  he  came  to  a  standstill ;  the  sound  was 
repeated,  more  faintly  this  time,  but  unmistakably 
the  cry  of  a  human  being  in  deep  distress. 

*  An  evening  hymn  by  an  unknown  author ;  it  was  in  use 
among  Christians  of  the  fourth  century,  and  is  described  by 
a  writer  of  that  day  (Basil)  as  "  very  ancient,  handed  down 
from  the  fathers."  It  is  the  oldest  hymn  known.  The  above 
is  a  free  rendering,  after  Dr.  J.  Pye  Smitlv 


136  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

"  Where  art  thou  ?"  cried  the  vine-dresser,  turn- 
ing his  startled  face  toward  the  sky. 

"  Here  !"  came  the  answer.     "  In  the  wall  !" 

Rufus  climbed  the  steep  bank,  staring  blankly  at 
the  hoary  mountain  of  the  temple  wall,  which  at 
this  point  struck  its  giant  roots  deep  into  the  lap  of 
the  valley.  "  Call  once  again,  that  I  may  find 
you  !" 

"  Here — here  !"  groaned  the  mysterious  voice. 
"  Help  quickly,  I  am  dying  of  thirst !" 

"  Merciful  Diana  !"  ejaculated  the  startled 
Greek,  lapsing  into  the  vernacular  of  his  native 
Athens  ;  "  how  came  you  there  ?  And  how,  in 
heaven's  name,  am  I  to  get  you  out  ?" 

His  only  answer  was  a  hollow  groaning  sound 
which  seemed  at  first  to  proceed  from  the  solid 
wall ;  but  which,  upon  further  investigation,  was 
found  to  issue  from  a  triangular  grated  opening 
set  deep  in  the  stones.  This  grating  covered  a 
space  scarce  large  enough  to  admit  the  head  and 
shoulders  of  a  man  ;  beneath  it  the  wall  was  deeply 
stained  and  discolored. 

"  Look  you,  my  friend,"  cried  Rufus  in  aloud, 
cheerful  voice,  albeit  accompanied  by  a  dubious 
shake  of  the  head  and  an  involuntary  shudder; 
"  these  bars  are  too  thick  for  one  to  force  with  his 
naked  hands.  Here  is  my  water-bottle  and  a  loaf; 
eat,  drink,  and  have  courage  ;  thou  wilt  soon  be  re- 
leased." Though  he  spoke  thus  confidently  he 
was  by  no  means  sure  of  the  best  course  to  pursue 


A  SINGER  OF  HYMNS.  137 

in  the  matter.  Certain  dark  tales  concerning  the 
cruelty  and  treachery  of  the  Jewish  priests,  current 
among  his  own  nation,  came  back  to  his  mind. 
For  himself  he  had  long  ceased  to  believe  these 
things  ;  yet  he  remembered  them. 

Observing  that  his  water-bottle  had  been  drawn 
into  the  aperture,  he  again  approached  his  mouth 
to  the  grating.  "Who  art  thou  ?"  he  urged; 
"  and  how  earnest  thou  in  the  wall  of  the  temple  ?" 

The  answer  astonished  him  ;  two  large  hands  ap- 
peared out  of  the  darkness  ;  they  grasped  the  bars 
of  the  grating,  which  bent  and  wavered  for  an  in- 
stant like  ropes,  then  wrenched  from  their  sockets 
fell  with  a  clank  to  the  stones  below.  Involuntarily 
Rufus  drew  back  a  pace,  as  a  head  covered  with 
long  matted  hair  was  thrust  out  from  the  opening. 
Then  he  sprang  forward  ;  the  head  and  trunk  of  a 
man  had  fallen  limply  outward.  Grasping  the 
hanging  body  just  underneath  the  armpits,  the 
Greek  bent  himself  with  a  lusty  effort,  with  the  re- 
sult that  both  rescuer  and  rescued  fell  violently 
backward  and  rolled  over  and  over  down  the  steep 
bank  into  the  roadway  below. 

Rufus  was  the  first  to  recover  himself.  In  the 
dim  light  of  the  evening  he  perceived  that  the  body 
which  he  had  pulled  out  from  the  hole  in  the  wall 
lay  motionless  upon  its  face  just  where  it  had 
fallen. 

He  turned  it  over.  "  Merciful  Diana !"  he  re- 
peated— then  correcting  himself  with  anxious  haste, 


I38  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

"Forgive,  oh  Crucified  One — the  man  is,  after  all, 
dead." 

But  Rufus  was  mistaken  ;  the  man  who  had  been 
thrice  pronounced  dead  within  the  hours  of  a  single 
day  had  only  fainted  after  his  frightful  experience. 
He  opened  his  eyes  presently  under  the  somewhat 
clumsy  ministrations  of  his  rescuer,  and  sighed 
deeply  two  or  three  times. 

"God!"  he  murmured,  "the  stars — the  stars — 
not  that  horrible  darkness — thank  God !  Yes,  I 
will  do  it — by  the  blood  of  the  sacrifices — the  blood 
— the  blood."  He  shuddered  and  relapsed  again 
into  silence. 

Rufus  bent  over  him  anxiously.  "  Canst  thou 
arise?"  he  asked  ;  "it  is  but  a  step  from  this  place 
to  a  house  where  thou  mayest  find  rest  and  re- 
freshment." 

Somewhat  to  his  surprise  the  other  rose  slowly 
to  his  feet.  "  I  will  go  with  thee  where  thou  wilt," 
he  said  gently  ;  "  thou  hast  delivered  my  soul  from 
death.  But  listen,  and  bear  witness  to  the  vow 
which  in  yonder  place  of  blood  I  made  to  the  God 
of  Israel.  I,  Phannias,  the  son  of  Samuel,  do  sol- 
emnly declare  that  I  will  search  out  to  know  for 
myself  all  that  may  be  known  of  one,  Jesus  of 
Nazareth,  who  lived  and  died  within  the  memory 
of  some  who  are  yet  upon  earth.  If  it  be  true  that 
he  was  the  Messiah,  I  will  humble  myself  before 
him,  to  love  him  and  to  follow  him ;  but  if  it  ap- 
pear that  these  things  which  men  do  affirm  of  him 


A  SISGER  OF  IIYMSS.  139 

be  false,  then  will  I  rid  Israel  of  the  memory  of  the 
man !     Bear  witness  that  I  have  said  it." 

Rufus  bent  his  head  before  the  stranger,  who 
towered  above  him  in  the  half  light,  his  face  drawn 
and  haggard,  his  white  garments  purple  with  the 
blood  of  uncounted  sacrifices.  "It  is  witnessed," 
he  said  slowly. 


140  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

A   SIMPLE   CREED. 

PHANNIAS  spent  three  days  in  the  hut  of  the 
vine-dresser ;  during  these  days  he  said 
little  and  thought  much.  When  one  has  sojourned 
in  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death  and  emerged 
therefrom  he  sees  henceforth  with  a  clearer  vision, 
whether  the  way  be  forward  into  the  unknown 
country  of  blinding  light,  or  along  the  sadder  and 
darker  ways  of  earth.  The  hours  which  he  had 
passed  in  that  horrible  place  of  blood  and  darkness 
were  as  years,  and  as  years  they  left  their  mark 
upon  both  soul  and  body. 

The  Greek,  comprehending  something  of  all  this 
with  the  facile  sympathy  of  his  race,  asked  no  ques- 
tions of  his  guest,  leaving  him  to  the  solitude  which 
he  so  evidently  craved.  He  had  shrewdly  guessed 
from  the  dress  and  general  appearance  of  the 
stranger  that  he  was  both  priest  and  Nazarite.  For 
himself  he  had  been  sufficiently  imbued  with  Jewish 
prejudices  to  regard  both  offices  with  veneration. 

"Shrine  of  Diana!"  he  muttered  to  himself,  as 
he  placidly  dug  his  little  patch  of  vineyard,  "  who 
knows  but  that  this  holy  man  will  bring  good  for- 
tune to  me  and  mine. — Now  a  murrain  on  my  un- 


A  SIMPLE  CREED.  141 

ruly  tongue  !  will  I  never  forget  the  heathen  gods  ? 
Truly  I  must  cleanse  my  ways  or  I  shall  yet  perish 
with  the  ungodly  !" 

Whereat  this  strange  mixture  of  Greek  supersti- 
tion, Jewish  formalism  and  Christian  faith,  blended 
withal  in  a  soul  of  adorable  simplicity  and  child- 
like clarity,  proceeded  to  wash  his  hands  and  his 
lips  with  Pharisaical  zeal.  "Beloved  Jesus,"  he 
murmured,  in  the  tone  of  one  who  addresses  a  near 
and  familiar  friend,  "  this  stranger  would  learn  of 
thee.  Now  thou  art  aware,  Lord,  that  I  am  of 
small  wit  and  less  learning ;  wilt  thou  therefore 
take  this  matter  in  hand  for  me.  If  the  man  will 
be  useful  to  thee,  it  will  be  an  easy  matter  to  reveal 
to  him  the  light  which  thou  hast  brought  into  the 
world  !  For  myself,  I  will  do  as  thou  shalt  direct." 
And  having  thus  laid  the  matter  before  his  Master, 
he  promptly  dismissed  any  anxiety  which  might 
otherwise  have  troubled  his  mind. 

On  the  morning  of  the  fourth  day  Phannias 
sought  his  host  where  he  was  at  work  in  his  gar- 
den. "  I  must  return  to  Jerusalem,"  he  said,  star- 
ing abstractedly  at  the  ground  ;  "  I  must  return  at 
once." 

"  Best  bide  where  thou  art  for  a  time,"  said 
Rufus,  surveying  his  guest  with  honest  admiration. 
The  days  of  quiet  had  completely  removed  all 
traces  of  the  young  Nazarite's  frightful  experience  ; 
and  now  clad  in  the  spotless  garments  of  the  novi- 
tiate— garments  cleansed  and  whitened  by  his  own 


142  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

hospitable  hands,  it  appeared  to  Rufus  that  his 
guest  was  more  beautiful  than  a  Greek  god.  Truly, 
it  might  be  that  there  were  no  gods ;  but  their 
marble  images,  shining  like  snow  in  the  blue  air  of 
Athens,  were  still  beloved  in  memory.  "  Best  bide 
where  thou  art,"  he  repeated  ;  "  there  is  tumult  and 
slaughter  in  Jerusalem.  Here  thou  art  safe." 

Phannias  started  violently.  "  Tumult  and  slaugh- 
ter !  But  why " 

The  Greek  shrugged  his  shoulders.  "There  is 
always  tumult,"  he  said,  showing  his  white  teeth  in 
a  cheerful  smile.  "  The  Jews  are  never  more  con- 
tent than  when  shouting  and  rending  the  garment. 
— A  strange  custom  and  costly,  eh  ? — the  rending 
of  the  garment.  But  this  time  there  is  also  much 
more,  alas !  A  frightful  catastrophe,  in  fact.  The 
noble  Florus  took  to  himself  seventeen  talents  of 
sacred  money  from  the  temple  coffers — An  outrage? 
Yes  ;  he  should  smart  for  it,  were  I  Caesar.  And 
when,  after  their  custom,  the  people  beat  upon  the 
breast,  tore  the  garment,  and  cast  of  the  dust  and 
stones  of  the  street  against  the  gate  of  the  castle, — 
and  truly  what  harm  in  all  this? — the  noble  Florus 
should  have  indulged  them.  But  no ;  this  so 
savage  and  implacable  a  Roman  sends  down  into 
the  crowd  soldiers  with  drawn  swords,  who  shortly 
disperse  the  multitude,  leaving  many  dead  upon  the 
ground  both  of  women  and  men." 

Phannias  leaned  forward  breathlessly.  "And  the 
temple — "  he  urged  ;  "is  the  temple  safe?" 


A  SIMPLE  CREED.  143 

The  Greek  made  a  rapid  gesture,  expressive  of 
wonderment  and  resignation.  "  The  temple  is  so 
far  safe,"  he  said  gravely ;  "  but  there  is  talk  of 
that  which  threatens  the  whole  nation.  The  peo- 
ple have  arisen  and  swear  that  they  will  avenge 
their  treasure  and  their  dead.  Sacred  Apollo  !  but 
there  can  be  but  one  end  to  it  all.  Rome  is  the 
hand  of  iron  ;  Jerusalem  the  eggshell.  What  can 
happen,  I  ask  you  ?" 

"  I  must  go  into  the  city  at  once,"  repeated 
Phannias,  with  decision.  "  And  you,  my  friend — 
you  are  not  of  our  nation,  I  perceive ;  yet  to  you 
I  owe  my  life  !" 

"  Do  not  let  that  trouble  you,  holy  Nazarite," 
said  Rufus  apologetically.  "  I  am  a  Greek  by  birth 
it  is  true ;  but  I  am  a  Jew  as  well,  and  keep  the 
law  as  I  am  able.  I  am  also  a  Christian,"  he  added 
with  simplicity. 

"A  Christian?"  repeated  Phannias. 

"  I  believe  that  the  Jew,  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  was 
the  Christ,  sent  by  the  true  and  only  God  to  save 
men  from  their  sins ;  and  that  he  will  give  to  them 
a  life  beyond  this  life,  which  shall  endure  forever." 
Rufus  recited  this,  his  simple  creed,  with  a  joyful 
enthusiasm  which  did  not  escape  the  wondering 
eye  of  the  Nazarite. 

Phannias  was  profoundly  disturbed  by  the  terri- 
ble intelligence  which  he  had  just  received,  but  he 
also  remembered  his  vow.  "  Why  dost  thou  be- 
lieve that  Jesus  of  Nazareth  was  sent  by  God?"  he 


144  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

asked  harshly.  "  Did  not  the  man  perish  on  the 
cross  ?  And  does  not  the  law  teach  that  the  fruit 
of  the  tree  is  accursed  ?" 

"  Truly  I  am  not  wise  in  matters  of  your  law," 
said  the  Greek  humbly ;  "  but  this,  I  know,  there 
is  no  peace  for  him  that  hath  sinned,  either  in  the 
faith  of  Greece — for  a  god  of  marble  cannot  for- 
give ;  nor  yet  in  the  temple  of  the  Jews.  What 
man  is  there  among  you  who  are  learned,  I  ask, 
who  hath  kept  your  law  in  the  sight  of  God  ?  And 
for  us  who  are  ignorant,  what  hope  is  there  ?  But 
this  Jesus  was  a  man,  as  I  myself;  he  can  there- 
fore pity,  now  that  he  lives  in  the  heavens.  He 
has  given  me  peace  here."  And  the  speaker  laid 
his  hand  upon  his  breast.  "  I  declare  to  you  that 
formerly  I  was  of  all  men  most  unhappy.  I  had 
ceased  to  believe  in  the  gods  of  Olympus ;  the  God 
of  Israel  terrified  me — a  Gentile.  But  Jesus  of 
Nazareth,  I  love — I  adore  !  I  am  happy — I  shall 
always  be  happy.  In  the  flesh  I  may  trust  him — 
even  for  what  I  eat  and  wear.  Yes,  truly ;  is  it 
not  wonderful  ?  He  is  with  us  always,  so  that  if 
even  I — a  Gentile  and  unlearned,  as  you  see — but 
whisper  to  him,  he  hears  me  and  gives  at  once 
what  I  ask.  You  do  not  believe  me — no  ;  but  it 
is  quite — quite  true  !" 

Phannias  looked  with  amazement  at  the  shining 
eyes  and  eloquent  face  of  this  Gentile,  who  spoke 
in  so  strange  a  fashion  of  a  Jew,  who  had  already 
been  dead  for  a  generation. 


A  SIMPLE  CREED.  14$ 

"  But  thou  hast  not  even  seen  the  man !"  he  said 
at  length  with  a  frown  of  incredulity  ;  "  he  has  been 
dead  these  many  years.  How  is  it  possible  to  love 
a  dead  man,  and  a  stranger  ?  My  father  is  dead  ; 
I  would  fain  love  him,  but  can  one  love  a  story — a 
shadow — a  something  which  does  not  exist  ? 
How  is  it  possible  ?  Thou  art  beside  thyself, 
Greek  !" 

Rufus  shook  his  head.  "  I  am  not  mad,  holy 
Nazarite,"  he  said  quietly.  "'  I  have  already  said 
to  you  that  Jesus  of  Nazareth  is  not  dead ;  he 
arose  from  his  tomb  on  the  third  day  after  his  cru- 
cifixion and  became  alive  again.  Thou  dost  not 
believe  this  ?  No  ;  but  it  is  more  true  than  any 
word  of  all  the  law  of  Moses.  Speak  for  yourself, 
friend,  to  this  Jesus,  who  was  dead  and  is  alive 
again ;  he  will  himself  reveal  to  thee  the  truth  so 
that  thou  canst  not  gainsay  it." 

"  Dost  thou  mean  that  /  should  pray  to  this 
man?"  cried  Phannias ;  "this  man  who  was  con- 
demned and  crucified  as  a  false  prophet  ?  Nay,  was 
he  not  so  convicted  ;  and  of  foul  blasphemy  also,  in 
presence  of  the  wisest  and  holiest  of  Israel !" 

"  Do  priests  make  no  mistakes,  then  ?"  returned 
Rufus  shrewdly.  "  I  have  asked  thec  no  questions  ; 
but  tell  me  how  earnest  thou,  who  art  also  a  priest, 
to  be  perishing  in  the  wall  of  the  temple  ?" 

Phannias  covered  his  face  with  his  hands  ;  and 
Rufus,  perceiving  that  his  word  had  smitten,  con- 
tinued. "  Thou  hast  vowed  in  my  hearing — and  I 

10 


146  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

also  have  witnessed  the  same,  that  thou  wilt  look 
to  the  claims  of  this  crucified  Jesus.  I  declare  to 
thee  that  he  is  alive  and  can  hear  thy  voice,  and 
that  he  will  reveal  himself  to  thee  if  thou  wilt  but 
see  him !"  In  his  earnestness  the  Greek  ventured 
to  lay  his  hand  upon  the  shoulder  of  his  guest. 

The  Jew  drew  back,  all  the  ingrained  pride  of 
race  leaping  to  his  eyes.  "  I  have  sworn  that  I 
will  investigate  this  matter,"  he  said  coldly ;  "  I 
shall  keep  my  vow ;  but  I  will  pray  only  to  Jeho- 
vah, than  whom  there  is  no  other  God  in  heaven  or 
on  earth." 

"There  is  a  short  way  and  an  easy  into  the 
kingdom,"  said  the  Greek  sorrowfully ;  "  there  is 
also  a  way  that  is  long  and  hard.  Thou  hast 
chosen,  and  no  other  may  choose  for  thee.  Pray 
to  Jehovah  that  thou  mayst  find  the  truth.  I  also 
will  pray  for  thee."  He  added  the  last  words  with 
the  confidence  of  one  who  possesses  royal  resources 
upon  which  he  may  draw  at  will. 

Phannias  regarded  the  vine-dresser  long  and 
steadfastly.  "  My  friend,"  he  said  at  length,  "  I 
perceive  that  thou  art  true  and  sincere  in  thy  belief; 
more  than  this  I  cannot  say.  For  what  thou  hast 
done  in  my  behalf — and  for  what  thou  hast  prom- 
ised, thou  hast  my  gratitude.  I  have  nothing  more 
to  give  thee  now ;  but  perhaps  in  the  future — nay, 
who  knows."  He  broke  off  abruptly,  and  with 
no  other  word  of  farewell  was  gone. 

Rufus  looked  after  the  tall,  white  figure  wistfully. 


A  SIMPLE  CREED.  147 

"  Thou  wilt  go  with  him,  my  Jesus,"  he  murmured 
aloud.  Then  his  face  cleared  as  he  broke  into  the 
swinging  chant  of  his  hymn  : 

"  We  worship  the  light  which  hath  shined — 
Which  hath  shined  in  the  darkness  ! 
Praise  to  thee,  Father !     Praise  to  thee,  Jesus ! 
Worthy  art  thou  to  be  praised  of  the  holiest, 
Now  and  forever,  on  all  days  and  eternally, 
Beloved  of  God,  who  givest  us  life!" 


148  THE  CROSS 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

WITH   THE   CHIEFS   OF   THE   NATION. 

IN  the  palace  of  the  high  priest  there  was  no 
decorous  feast  in  progress,  as  was  the  custom 
on  most  days  of  the  year.  Jesus  IV.  and  half  a 
score  of  others  of  the  high-priestly  family  were  in- 
deed assembled  in  one  of  the  lofty  rooms  of  the 
palace ;  but  the  faces  of  all  were  grave  and  stern, 
and  the  wine  and  sweetmeats,  circulated  amongst 
them  by  velvet-footed  servants  were  allowed  to 
pass  untasted. 

"  It  were  perhaps  well  to  proclaim  a  solemn 
fast,"  said  Ananus,  who  had  but  lately  been  de- 
posed from  the  sacred  office,  and  who  yet  in  reality 
wielded  the  scant  authority  left  to  the  chiefs  of  the 
Jewish  nation.  "  A  fast  will  at  least  serve  to  keep 
the  people  off  the  streets  and  market  places." 

"It  is  too  late  for  that,"  said  the  high  priest 
gloomily  ;  "the  people  are  mad  for  blood." 

"  The  facts  are  appalling  enough,"  pursued  An- 
anus with  decision,  "  but  they  must  be  faced,  and 
wisdom  must  prevail  against  madness.  Look  you, 
the  Romans  have  slain  some  three  thousand  people  ; 
but  who  and  what  are  these  people  ?  Jews  princi- 
pally, but  all  of  the  poorer  classes — the  malcon- 


WITH  THE  CHIEFS  OF  THE  NATION.         149 

tents  ;  'twill  prove  merely  a  wholesome  lesson  if 
we  can  control  the  situation  for  the  space  of  a 
month.  The  people  must  be  forced  to  submit  to 
Roman  authority ;  for  on  that  authority  rests  the 
peace  of  Israel  and  our  own  prosperity.  This  wild 
talk  of  throwing  off  the  Roman  yoke  is  folly — 
madness.  Nay,  'twere  as  though  the  seamen  on  a 
foundering  ship  were  to  cut  away  and  cast  off  the 
undergirding,  which  alone  holds  together  the  shat- 
tered timbers  of  their  vessel.  This  insurrection 
might  be  laid  to  the  doors  of  the  Nazarenes  ;  by  so 
doing  we  should  ourselves  escape  punishment,  and 
perchance  rid  the  nation  of  a  foul  and  blasphemous 
brood." 

Ananus  cast  his  shrewd  eyes  about  the  circle  of 
gloomy  faces  and  continued.  "  Our  gracious  em- 
peror, Nero,  it  is  said,  hates  and  fears  the  Jews  ; 
but  he  hates  and  fears  the  Christians — as  the  Gen- 
tiles are  pleased  to  call  the  Nazarenes — even  more. 
He  has  already  slain  three  thousand  of  them  in 
Rome,  including  the  pestilent  Saul,  aforetime  a 
Pharisee  and  member  of  the  Sanhedrim ;  also  one, 
Peter,  a  Galilean,  who  once  wrought  untold  mis- 
chief in  our  midst.  As  I  have  said,  this  tumult 
must  be  referred  to  the  Nazarenes  ;  I  will  myself 
look  to  it.  In  the  meantime,  the  people  must  be 
held  in  check.  Better  lose  fifty  talents  from  the 
temple  treasure  than  to  gain  the  wrath  of  Rome." 

Jesus  moved  uneasily  in  his  chair.  "  I  sent  an 
embassy  to  Florus  this  morning  at  the  third  hour, 


ISO  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

according  to  thy  counsel,"  he  said  in  muffled  tones. 
"  Simon,  the  son  of  Asaph — a  Roman  citizen,  as 
thou  art  aware  ;  also  Azariah,  and  Joseph  of  Gali- 
lee, all  three  citizens  of  equestrian  rank." 

Ananus  nodded  approvingly.  "  It  is  well  and 
wisely  done.  And  has  the  embassy  returned?" 

"  The  embassy  will  not  return.  Simon  was 
scourged,  and  cast  into  a  dungeon  under  Antonia ; 
the  others  are  crucified." 

Ananus  sprang  to  his  feet  with  a  loud  cry. 
••  Crucified  ! — Impossible  !  They  were  Roman  citi- 
zens !" 

"  They  were  also  Jews,"  said  the  high  priest  with 
a  despairing  gesture.  "Above  their  crosses  runs 
the  following  inscription  :  '  Florus,  procurator,  to 
all  the  Jews  Avhich  be  in  Jerusalem,  greeting  !  Such 
as  these  will  you  shortly  be,  who  have  insulted  the 
dignity  of  Rome.'  ' 

"Who  then  of  us  all  is  safe?"  whispered  Elha- 
nan,  the  brother  of  the  high  priest,  turning  his 
ghastly  face  from  one  to  the  other  of  the  horrified 
listeners.  "  I  shall  leave  Jerusalem  at  once." 

"  Leave  Jerusalem  !"  cried  Ananus,  with  flashing 
eyes.  "  If  all  in  authority  leave  Jerusalem,  the 
people  like  a  flock  of  defenceless  sheep  will  rush 
into  the  jaws  of  this  wolf  and  perish.  Jerusalem 
will  vanish  off  the  face  of  the  earth.  And  if  Jeru- 
salem be  destroyed  what  place  in  all  the  circle  of  the 
earth  will  be  left  to  us  ?  Nay,  we  must  remain, 
one  and  all.  This  Florus  is  not  Rome.  He  is  a 


WITH  THE  CHIEFS  OF  THE  NATION.         151 

drunken  madman.  He  shall  be  punished  for  every- 
thing which  he  hath  done  contrary  to  law.  Thanks 
be  to  Jehovah,  the  laws  of  Rome  are  second  only 
to  the  laws  of  Moses.  What  is  written  is  written, 
and  there  is  no  man  who  may  say  :  '  I  am  not  un- 
der the  law.'  The  procurator  must  be  forced  to 
listen  to  reason,  till  we  can  take  steps  to  depose 
him." 

"Wilt  thou  thyself  visit  the  honorable  Florus?" 
sneered  Elhanan.  "  If  he  chance  to  be  in  a 
pleasant  humor,  he  will  perhaps  do  no  more  than 
scourge  thee.  A  high  priest  under  the  lash  were 
a  marvelous  sight !  But  a  high  priest  crucified  ! 
It  would  amuse  this  humorous  Roman  to  compose 
a  suitable  superscription  for  the  cross  of  such  an 
one.  As  for  the  emperor,  he  would  straightway 
banish  Florus,  or  cause  him  to  drink  poison  ;  later 
he  would  compose  smooth  verses  to  celebrate  the 
event." 

Ananus  gnawed  his  beard  in  silence.  He  was 
unable  to  disprove  what  sounded  like  a  savage  jest. 

After  a  time  the  youngest  of  the  group,  one  Elea- 
zar,  spoke.  "  I  am  with  the  people,"  he  said. 
"  Why  indeed  should  Israel  submit  herself  to  idola- 
ters ?  Too  long  have  our  altars  smoked  with 
heathen  offerings  ;  too  long  have  we  been  silent  un- 
der outrage,  till  everywhere  the  name  of  Jew  is 
hailed  with  insolent  laughter  and  hissing.  There 
are  but  a  handful  of  the  Romans  ;  let  us  slay  them. 
Before  the  news  of  it  shall  come  to  the  ears  of  the 


152  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

gilded  popinjay,  the  Romans  call  Caesar,  we  shall 
have  fortified  our  borders.  As  for  Jerusalem,  who 
can  prevail  against  it  ?" 

Ananus  shook  his  head.  "  Thy  counsels,  son, 
are  evil,"  he  said  slowly.  "  There  is  no  way  save 
that  of  submission."  After  a  pause  he  added, 
"  The  sister  of  Agrippa  is  at  present  sojourning  in 
the  Asmonean  palace.  She  is  more  Roman  than 
Jew  ;  she  must  be  persuaded  to  lend  us  her  aid  in 
this  matter." 

He  would  have  spoken  further,  but  at  that  in- 
stant an  attendant  parted  the  curtains  of  heavy 
stuff  which  served  to  shut  out  the  glaring  light  of 
the  court  without.  "A  priest,  my  good  lords,"  he 
announced,  "  who  insists  upon  being  admitted." 

"  Bring  him  in,"  commanded  the  high  priest, 
welcoming  any  interruption  to  the  dreary  confer- 
ence which  bade  fair  to  lead  to  no  comfortable 
conclusion.  For  himself  he  had  secretly  determined 
to  follow  the  advice  of  his  brother,  Elhanan,  and 
quit  Jerusalem.  To  his  indolent  and  pleasure-lov- 
ing soul  the  present  situation  had  become  intoler- 
able. Therefore  it  was  that  he  fixed  his  eyes  with 
some  eagerness  upon  the  man  who  was  presently 
ushered  into  the  chamber.  "  What  wilt  thou  ?"  he 
inquired  ;  "  hast  thou  news  from  Florus  ?" 

At  the  question  the  whole  circle  of  hierarchs  fixed 
their  eyes  upon  the  newcomer,  observing  with  evi- 
dent surprise  his  imposing  stature  and  powerful 
frame,  well  matched  by  the  dignity  and  beauty  of 


WITH  THE  CHIEFS  OF  THE  NATION.         153 

his  youthful  face.  "  I  know  nothing  of  the  Ro- 
man, my  lord,"  he  said,  looking  seriously  from  one 
to  the  other  of  the  listening  group.  "  I  have  come 
because  I  wish  to  withdraw  from  my  service  in  the 
temple.  I  crave  an  honorable  release  from  the  du- 
ties to  which  I  am  assigned." 

Eleazar's  lip  curled ;  he  had  readily  recognized 
the  stranger  by  his  garb  as  belonging  to  the  infe- 
rior orders  of  the  priesthood.  "The  fellow  is 
afraid,"  he  sneered.  "Nay,  let  him  go;  there  are 
ten  thousand  to  take  his  place." 

But  Ananus,  who  had  been  studying  the  face  be- 
fore him  from  under  half-closed  lids,  raised  his 
hand  authoritatively.  "  Who  art  thou,  my  son  ?" 
he  asked  gently  ;  "  and  why  is  it  that  thou  wilt  de- 
sert the  service  of  Jehovah  at  such  a  time  as  this?" 

"  My  name  is  Phannias,"  replied  the  young  man 
boldly.  "  I  will  serve  no  longer  in  the  temple  be- 
cause I  have  seen  falsehood,  cowardice,  murder, 
stalking  through  its  courts  with  unveiled  faces. 
Also,  since  there  be  many  who  affirm  that  the 
Messiah  has  already  come,  and  that  he  was  put  to 
death  by  those  who  should  have  hailed  him  Prince 
of  Israel,  I  have  determined  to  know  of  these 
things  for  myself." 

Elhanan  started  to  his  feet  with  an  oath.  "  The 
fellow  is  an  accursed  Nazarene,"  he  cried.  "  'Tis 
because  of  such  knaves  that  Israel  writhes  under 
the  lash  !" 

But  Ananus  silenced  him  with  a  word.     "  Let 


154  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

me,  I  pray  thee,  speak  with  this  priest,"  he  said,  in 
a  tone  which  those  who  heard  were  not  disposed 
to  gainsay.  With  a  few  skillfully  put  questions  he 
drew  from  the  neophyte  the  whole  story  of  his  ex- 
periences in  the  temple.  "  We  must  look  to  this 
matter,"  he  said  at  length,  casting  a  wary  eye  about 
the  mute  circle  of  listeners.  "Verily,  it  shall  be 
looked  to ;  but  first,  there  be  other  matters  which 
press  upon  us  sorely."  Turning  suddenly  to  Phan- 
nias,  "  My  son,  dost  thou  love  thy  God,  thy  temple, 
and  thy  nation?" 

"More  than  life  itself,"  was  the  answer, — breathed 
rather  than  spoken. 

"  Then  putting  aside  all  anger  and  malice — yea, 
and  all  questions  pertaining  to  law  and  doctrine, 
wilt  thou  perform  a  service  for  thy  God,  thy  temple 
and  thy  nation  ? — a  service  which  indeed  is  not  with- 
out great  peril,  as  thou  shalt  presently  hear ;  yet 
because  thou  art  come  to  us  in  this  hour  I  believe 
that  Jehovah  hath  sent  thee.  Go  to  Florus,  the 
procurator,  and  say  to  him  such  words  as  I  shall 
presently  teach  thee.  So  shalt  thou  earn  for  thy- 
self favor  with  God  and  men  ;  for  who  shall  ques- 
tion but  that  God  will  reward  the  labors  of  them 
that  diligently  serve  his  chosen  people." 

The  face  of  the  Nazarite  shone.  "  I  will  per- 
form this  service,"  he  said  with  simplicity ;  but  his 
voice  rang  out  in  that  dim  chamber  of  luxury  like 
the  clang  of  a  sword  against  the  shield  of  an  enemy. 

Elhanan  permitted  the  corners   of  his  sensual 


WITH  THE  CHIEFS  OF  THE  NATION.         155 

mouth  to  curl  upward  in  a  smile.  "  By  the  double 
veil  of  the  holiest !"  he  whispered  in  the  ear  of 
Eleazar,  "  the  young  fool  will  go  pleasantly  to  his 
execution.  Peace  be  with  him !" 


156  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

MERODAH. 

TO  Merodah,  the  daughter  of  Ben  Ethan,  im- 
mured in  her  father's  house,  had  come  no 
word  of  the  tumult  and  massacre  which  had  shaken 
Jerusalem  to  its  centre.  It  was  not  indeed  the  cus- 
tom for  a  law-observing  Jew  to  hold  much  converse 
with  the  women  of  his  household  upon  any  occa- 
sion. Women,  like  the  baser  animals,  were  good 
in  their  place;  but  that  place  was  immeasurably 
below  the  exalted  position  in  the  scale  of  creation 
occupied  by  their  lords.  The  girl  had  observed 
that  her  father  was  in  a  sour  humor,  and  that  he 
spent  more  time  than  common  upon  the  housetop, 
presumably  engaged  in  prayer.  In  the  innocence 
of  her  heart  she  imagined  herself  the  sole  object 
of  his  displeasure. 

"  Merciful  Jehovah,"  she  murmured,  timidly 
venturing  a  prayer  on  her  own  account ;  "  ho\v  is 
it  that  I  do  not  please  my  father  ?  It  is  true  that  I 
am  ignorant;  and  not  skillful  perhaps  in  the  baking 
of  the  bread  as  I  ought  to  be." 

Then  she  hid  her  face  in  her  mantle,  fearful  lest 
she  had  offended  the  deity  by  the  mention  of  her 
humble  avocations.  "How" — she  asked  herself 


MERODAH.  157 

with  a  sigh — "  shall  a  woman  pray  so  that  she  may 
find  favor  in  the  eyes  of  him  who  sitteth  on  the 
circle  of  the  heavens?"  After  mature  reflection 
she  decided  that  this  was  indeed  impossible,  and 
turned  to  the  consideration  of  more  mundane  ex- 
pedients. She  determined  at  length,  with  a  wisdom 
worthy  of  her  sex,  that  a  certain  choice  dish  com- 
posed of  fowls  and  vegetables,  of  which  her  father 
was  inordinately  fond,  would  most  surely  restore 
her  to  the  favor  which  she  coveted.  True  she  had 
no  money ;  but  she  hoped  that  she  might  barter  a 
coin  from  the  necklace  bequeathed  her  by  her 
mother,  at  the  stall  of  a  certain  good-natured  poul- 
terer not  three  squares  distant. 

Full  of  this  idea  she  wrapped  herself  in  her  man- 
tle and  stole  out  into  the  street,  availing  herself  of 
a  moment  when  her  father  was  busied  with  a  cus- 
tomer in  the  little  shop.  "  Good  fortune  !"  she 
murmured  to  herself  with  a  happy  little  laugh;  "he 
never  will  know  that  I  was  away  for  one  smallest 
moment.  And  the  fowls  ?  It  will  be  two  of  them 
that  I  will  buy ;  and  they  must  be  fat  and  good  or 
I  will  not  so  much  as  look  at  them.  Aha  !  I  am, 
after  all,  wise  in  some  ways  ;  for  this  one  thing  my 
father  does  not  know,  that  to  be  tender  and  pleas- 
ant to  the  palate  a  fowl  must  possess  a  soft  bone  in 
the  breast — but  I  know  it ;  yes  !" 

Quite  absorbed  in  her  own  joyful  thoughts  the 
girl  hurried  along,  oblivious  to  certain  ominous 
sounds  which  arose  from  the  lower  city.  Arrived 


158  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

presently  in  the  market  place,  she  was  amazed  to 
find  it  empty ;  as  for  the  poulterer's  stall,  it  was 
quite  overturned,  and  the  vegetables  and  birds  lay 
all  about  in  sodden  shapeless  heaps,  as  though  they 
had  been  trodden  underfoot  of  beasts  of  burden. 
The  round,  cheerful  face  of  Bidcar,  the  poulterer, 
was  nowhere  to  be  seen.  But  what  was  it  that 
protruded  from  under  the  broken  timbers  of  the 
stall  ? — the  hand  and  arm  of  a  man,  partly  covered 
with  striped  drapery  !  Manifestly  some  frightful 
accident  had  befallen  the  good  poulterer ;  his  stall 
had  fallen  upon  him  ;  he  was  hurt — perhaps  dying. 
She  must  fetch  help.  There  were  people  in  the 
square  below ;  she  could  hear  them  shouting. 

In  another  moment  the  mob  had  seized  upon  this 
human  atom,  as  the  mad  current  of  a  swollen  river 
seizes  the  leaf  which  drops  from  an  overhanging 
bough  and  whirls  it  away  on  its  wild  errand.  Me- 
rodah — frightened — breathless — found  herself  all 
against  her  will  in  the  midst  of  a  seething,  perspiring 
mass  of  men,  women  and  children,  above  which 
hung  a  sullen  cloud  of  red  dust,  pierced  by  beast- 
like  cries,  curses,  groans,  imprecations.  This  mass 
of  people,  as  one  creature,  vast,  mysterious,  swayed 
by  an  unknown  will,  moved  steadily  forward. 

Merodah  looked  wildly  about  her,  conscious  only 
of  a  desire  to  escape ;  the  veil  had  fallen  away  from 
her  face,  revealing  the  flower-like  tints  of  cheek 
and  neck  and  her  dark  eyes,  bright  as  those  of  a 
frightened  child.  "Father!"  she  cried  piteously, 


MERODAH.  159 

"Father!" — not  knowing  that  she  had  uttered  a 
sound. 

A  man  clad  in  the  leathern  jerkin  and  helmet  of 
a  soldier  and  carrying  a  short  crooked  sword  in  his 
hand  turned  with  an  oath ;  then  stopped  short. 
"  Wilt  thou  also  pull  down  the  cloisters,  little  one  ?" 
he  asked,  falling  back  a  pace,  and  passing  a  grimy 
finger  caressingly  over  the  smooth  round  cheek. 

Merodah  stared  at  him  without  replying. 

"Sword  of  Mars  !"  muttered  the  soldier  ;  "this 
is  a  jewel  from  the  belt  of  Venus  dropped  into  my 
very  hand ;  I  will  slay  the  Romans  later,  there  are 
enough  of  them."  Then,  being  of  great  stature, 
he  grasped  the  girl  by  the  shoulder  and  half-guid- 
ing, half-carrying  her,  very  easily  got  quit  of  the 
crowd. 

Merodah  drew  a  long  sigh  of  relief;  "Oh,  sir," 
she  cried,  looking  up  into  the  red,  bloated  face  of 
her  rescuer,  "  how  kind  of  you  to  help  me  get  away 
from  that  frightful  crowd  !  Indeed,  I  know  not  how 
I  fell  in  with  them.  I  must  go  home  now ;  my 
father  will  find  that  I  am  gone  and  he  will  be  more 
displeased  than  ever." 

The  soldier  nodded  his  head.  "  Yes,  I'll  war- 
rant me  that  he  will.  Shall  I  take  thee  home  to 
him,  little  one  ?" 

Merodah  showed  her  white  teeth  in  the  sweetest 
of  smiles.  "Thou  art  good,"  she  said  simply; 
"  but  I  can  go  quite  easily  by  myself.  See,  I  have 
but  to  cross  this  square ;  then  down  the  street  of 


160  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

the  brass-workers ;  turn  a  second  corner ;  and  be^ 
hold — the  house  of  my  father !" 

"  But  thou  canst  not  go  that  way,  my  pretty," 
said  the  man,  staring  more  and  more  boldly  into 
the  beautiful,  upturned  face. 

The  girl  drew  back,  her  white  lids  fringed  with 
dark  curling  lashes  drooping  upon  the  glowing 
oval  of  her  cheek.  "  I  am  beholden  to  thee,  kind 
sir,"  she  said  tremulously.  "  May  the  God  of 
Israel  reward  thee  !"  With  that  she  moved  reso- 
lutely away. 

The  soldier  burst  into  a  roar  of  laughter,  as 
though  something  in  her  words  had  pleased  him 
through  all  his  monstrous  bulk.  "  The  God  of 
Israel  has  rewarded  me  already!"  he  cried,  with  a 
great  oath.  "  And  by  the  girdle  of  Aphrodite,  I 
want  no  other  reward  !  Thou  wilt  come  this  way, 
Jewess — along  with  me ;  and  mind  thou  come 
peaceably,  for  I  have  birds  of  other  feathers  to 
cage." 

Merodah  glanced  back  for  a  brief  instant  into 
the  brutal,  leering  face  ;  then  obeying  her  instincts 
turned  to  run. 

With  three  long  strides  the  soldier  was  at  her 
side.  "  Come,  come,  my  pretty  !  Thou  wilt  surely 
never  run  from  one  who  loves  thee."  With  that  he 
caught  the  girl  in  his  arms,  and  bent  his  mottled 
visage  toward  hers. 

"  Help — help  !"  she  shrieked,  struggling  weakly 
in  the  iron  grasp  of  her  captor. 


MERODAIL  161 

At  that  moment  a  man  in  the  garb  of  an  inferior 
priest  turned  the  corner  of  the  street  He  was 
walking  swiftly,  with  bent  head  ;  but  at  the  piercing 
cry-of  the  girl  he  stopped.  "  Let  go  the  woman, 
coward,"  he  called  imperatively.  "  Let  her  go,  I 
say!" 

"  Oh,  thou  sayst  it — eh  ?"  roared  the  soldier, 
again  mightily  amused.  "  And  who  art  thou  to  in- 
terfere betwixt  a  man  and  his  rebellious  wife  •?" 

"  I  am  not  his  wife,"  cried  Merodah,  "  Father—- 
oh, father  !" 

Phannias  caught  a  glimpse  of  the  white,  terrified 
face,  "  Let  her  go  !"  he  repeated  in  a  sudden  fury  ; 
and  without  further  ado  he  seized  the  soldier  about 
the  throat  with  both  hands* 

With  an  inarticulate  splutter  of  rage  the  fellow 
strove  to  shake  off  the  choking  grasp,  reaching  for 
his  sword  with  one  hand  while  with  the  other  he 
still  clutched  the  girl.  Phannias  perceived  the 
motion,  and  let  go  his  hold  on  the  man's  throat 
long  enough  to  jerk  the  weapon  from  the  un- 
steady fingers  and  hurl  it  far  down  the  street. 

"Curse  you!"  howled  the  soldier;  "I'll  teach 
you  to  meddle  with  an  honest  man's  business  !"  In 
his  blind  rage  he  loosed  his  grasp  upon  Merodah — 
who  staggered  up  against  the  wall  too  terrified  to 
fly — and  lunged  toward  his  opponent  with  the  bel- 
low of  an  infuriated  bull. 

Phannias  was  at  first  sight  no  match  for  his 
gigantic  adversary ;  but  he  was  angry  and  sober, 


162  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

while  the  soldier  was  angry  and  drunk.  Stepping 
lightly  to  one  side  to  avoid  the  furious  onset,  he 
smote  the  fellow  just  under  the  ear.  The  soldier 
staggered  to  his  knees  ;  but  was  up  again  in  an  in- 
stant, roaring  out  threats  and  curses  as  he  rushed 
upon  the  light-footed  priest.  Again  Phannias 
avoided  him,  springing  from  side  to  side,  as  light 
and  elusive  as  a  flying  thistle-down. 

The  soldier  was  plainly  in  no  trim  for  this  kind 
of  warfare ;  his  breath  came  in  great  gasps ;  his 
face  grew  purple.  "  Dog  of  a  Jew  !"  he  cried,  and 
gathering  all  his  forces  for  one  last  desperate 
effort,  he  hurled  himself  upon  his  enemy  only  to 
meet  a  stinging  blow  which  sent  him  reeling  back 
against  the  wall. 

"  Beard  of  Jove !"  he  bawled.  "  Thou  art  a 
sneaking  coward,  not  fit  to  fight  an  honest  man. 
Come  on,  if  thou  dare,  and  I  will  wrestle  with  thee  ; 
but  may  the  furies  smite  me  if  I  play  at  shuttle- 
cock with  thee  longer  !" 

Phannias  surveyed  his  adversary  with  a  scorn- 
ful smile.  "  I  have  no  present  quarrel  with  thee, 
Gentile,"  he  said  coolly.  "  I  commanded  thee  to 
loose  the  woman ;  thou  hast  obeyed  me  ;  the  mat' 
ter  is  therefore  finished.  Go  thy  way  in  peace, 
and  I  will  go  mine." 

The  soldier  shook  his  great  shoulders,  a  curious 
mixture  of  admiration  and  malice  twinkling  in  his 
small,  deep-set  eyes.  Then  the  corners  of  his  red 
beard  lifted.  "Dog  of  a  Jew!"  he  exclaimed, 


MERODAH.  163 

slapping  his  thigh  ;  "  for  a  swine  eater  thou  art  a 
proper  youth — I  swear  it !  Ha,  ha  !  I  have  obeyed 
thee  ;  the  matter  is  finished  !  Thou  wilt  also  take 
the  woman — eh?"  He  stopped  short,  thrusting 
forward  his  shaggy  head  as  if  listening  intently  ; 
then  raising  his  hand  to  his  mouth  he  sent  forth  a 
peculiar  bellowing  note,  which  was  at  once  answered 
from  a  little  distance. 

Phannias  did  not  wait  for  the  half  dozen  men, 
armed  with  the  short  crooked  sword  of  the  notori- 
ous Sicars,  who  turned  the  corner  of  the  street  at  a 
run.  He  seized  the  girl  by  the  arm.  "  Come  !"  he 
whispered. 

"Stop,  Jew!"  roared  the  soldier,  and  repeating 
the  urgent  note  of  summons,  he  gave  chase. 

Half  way  down  the  second  street  the  girl  stum- 
bled and  fell.  "  I  can  go  no  further,"  she  moaned. 
"  Leave  me  and  save  thyself!" 

Phannias  looked  about  him  in  an  agony  of  inde- 
cision. His  mission — his  sacred  mission,  entrusted 
to  his  care  by  the  chief  of  his  nation  ;  and  aban- 
doned— for  what  ?  He  raised  the  girl  roughly  to 
her  feet.  "  Art  thou  the  wife  of  that  man  !"  he 
said  sternly.  "  Answer — yes  or  no  ;  they  are  gain- 
ing on  us  !" 

Merodah  raised  her  eyes  to  meet  those  of  her 
questioner,  a  scarlet  flush  staining  the  whiteness  of 
her  cheek.  "  I  am  the  wife  of  no  man  !"  she  cried, 
a  note  of  anger  in  her  tremulous  tones.  Then  her 
face  went  white  again,  and  she  sank  back  half 


164  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

swooning  at  sight  of  her  persecutor  not  twenty 
paces  distant.  Phannias'  quick  ear  had  caught  the 
sound  of  a  heavy  door  grating  on  its  hinges  in  the 
wall  hard  by ;  without  a  word  he  caught  up  the 
fainting  girl  and  pressed  boldly  past  the  amazed 
porter. 

"Ah,  thou  dog  ;  get  thee  back  into  the  street !" 
began  the  porter  in  a  violent  rage ;  then  his  eye 
fell  on  the  white  garments  of  the  man  who  had  so 
adroitly  forced  an  entrance.  "  Why  art  thou  here  ?" 
he  asked  more  civilly. 

"  I  am  pursued,"  said  Phannias  briefly.  "  Let 
the  woman  rest  and  recover  herself  a  little  ;  I  will 
go  about  my  business." 

"  This  is  all  very  well,  sir  priest,"  replied  the 
porter,  wagging  his  head  ;  "  but  it  will  not  serve 
in  these  troublous  days.  Thou  must  even  explain 
thyself  to  the  captain  of  the  guard.  Follow  me — 
thou  and  the  woman." 

"What  will  he  do  with  us?"  whispered  Mero- 
dah,  drawing  back.  "  Let  me  go — only  let  me  go 
home,  kind  sir  !  My  father — Oh,  what  will  my 
father  say  to  me  ?" 

"Follow,"  repeated  the  gatekeeper,  jingling  his 
keys  ;  "  or  I  will  call  the  guard,  who  will  straight- 
way scourge  ye  both  for  thieves." 

As  the  three  traversed  a  large  and  beautiful  gar- 
den,— the  gatekeeper  slightly  in  advance,  they  came 
suddenly  face  to  face  with  a  group  of  persons. 
The  porter,  obviously  abashed,  bowed  himself 


MEEODAH.  165 

almost  to  the  ground  before  the  central  figure  in 
this  group. 

"  Pardon,  worshipful  princess,"  he  faltered  apolo- 
getically ;  <(  I  was  not  aware  that  your  highness 
walked  in  the  garden  at  this  hour." 

The  person  addressed  made  no  immediate  re- 
ply ;  her  dark  eyes  were  busying  themselves  with 
the  pair  who  stood  behind  the  trembling  menial. 
"  What  have  we  here  ?"  she  asked,  in  a  soft  lan- 
guorous drawl  which  yet  conveyed  unquestioned 
authority. 

"A  fellow  in  the  dress  of  a  priest,  noble  prin- 
cess," began  the  gatekeeper  eagerly,  "who " 

"  Let  me  explain  our  presence  here,"  interrupted 
Phannias,  advancing  a  step.  "  I  was  on  my  way  to 
the  palace  of  the  procurator,  bearing  an  urgent 
message  from  Ananus,  the  high  priest,  when  I 
came  upon  this  maid  in  the  grasp  of  a  brutal  fel- 
low ;  I  attempted  her  rescue,  but  to  escape  a  su- 
perior force  of  the  enemy  took  refuge  in  an  open 
door." 

The  lips  of  the  princess  curled.  "A  gallant 
priest,  my  lord,"  she  observed,  turning  with  a  light 
laugh  to  the  man  who  walked  by  her  side.  "  What 
say  you,  shall  we  cool  his  ardor  in  our  dungeon  for 
a  space?" 

Phannias  fixed  his  eyes  full  on  the  beautiful, 
haughty  face  of  the  lady.  "Princess,"  he  said,  "  I 
have  told  thee  the  truth.  Let  me,  I  pray  thee,  go 
my  way.  As  for  the  maid,  I  never  before  set  eyes 


166  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

upon  her;  yet  as  I  bore  an  honest  love  for  my 
mother  I  could  leave  no  woman  in  such  evil 
plight." 

"  Indeed  it  is  true — quite  true  !"  cried  Merodah, 
dropping  the  veil  which  she  had  drawn  modestly 
across  her  face.  "  It  is  I  who  am  at  fault — I  alone  ; 
I  left  my  father's  house,  knowing  nothing  of  the 
disorder  in  the  streets." 

"A  careless  father  to  leave  such  a  jewel  un- 
guarded," muttered  the  man,  to  whom  the  princess 
had  spoken. 

"  But  I  did  not  ask  my  father,  sir,"  said  Mero- 
dah, blushing  rosily  under  the  prolonged  scrutiny 
of  so  many  eyes. 

"  Why  then  didst  thou  go  ?"  demanded  the 
princess  coldly  ;  "  was  it  to  meet  thy  lover — the 
bold  priest  here  ?  And  how  after  all " — turning 
suddenly  to  the  gatekeeper,  who  winced  perceptibly 
under  her  frown,  "did  these  persons  make  their 
way  into  the  palace — and  into  my  presence?" 

"They  forced  their  way  past  me,  worshipful 
princess  ;  when  I  but  opened  the  door  to " 

"  Was  the  guard  present  when  you  opened — as 
I  have  ordered  ?" 

"  The  guard  stood  not  twenty  paces  distant, 
your  highness,"  stammered  the  man,  turning  white. 

"  Then  it  appears  that  it  was  our  good  fortune 
alone  which  prevented  a  band  of  Sicars  from  sur- 
prising us  in  the  privacy  of  our  garden.  Such  in- 
trusions must  not  be  repeated.  Remove  this  man." 


MERODAH.  167 

The  unhappy  porter,  who  understood  too  well 
that  he  had  received  his  death  sentence,  ventured 
no  word  of  appeal,  but  suffered  himself  to  be 
dragged  away  unresisting  betwixt  two  slaves. 

The  princess  watched  the  doomed  man  till  a 
clump  of  shrubbery  hid  him  from  her  eyes ;  then 
she  turned  with  a  shiver  to  her  women.  "  Merci- 
ful Diana  !"  she  cried  petulantly,  "why  did  I  make 
the  stupid  vow  which  binds  me  to  this  Jerusalem  for 
thrice  seven  hateful  days.  Thirty  days  was  it  ?  And 
I  have  tarried  but  three — and  every  one  of  the  three 
a  separate  age.  '  'Twill  please  the  people,'  declared 
my  sapient  brother,  Agrippa  ;  '  also  thou  wilt  gain 
favor  in  the  eyes  of  the  priesthood.'  So  I  made 
my  vow.  Thirty  days  without  wine  !  thirty  days 
without  a  coiffure  !  thirty  days  in  Jerusalem  !  Was 
it  not  madness  ?  And  the  people — what  care  they 
that  Berenice  plays  the  Nazarite  ?  They  care  only 
for  themselves  and  their  temple.  Aphrodite  be  my 
witness,  I  will  make  no  more  vows  !" 

The  man  at  her  side  raised  a  jeweled  hand  to 
his  lips  to  conceal  a  smile  ;  then  he  stooped  defer- 
entially and  whispered  something  in  the  ear  of  the 
princess. 

"Ah,  yes,  the  priest  and  the  woman,"  she  said 
carelessly.  "  Take  them  away  and  scourge  them  ; — 
they  deserve  it,  I  swear,  for  giving  us  such  a  fright. 
Afterward  let  them  go." 

The  man  again  ventured  something  in  a  low 
voice,  at  which  the  lady  first  frowned — then  laughed 


I6S  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

musically.  "  Ah,  Timones,  thou  art  a  sad  flatterer !" 
she  said,  looking  up  from  under  her  long  lashes. 
w  Rut  perhaps  thou  art  right  about  the  priest.  Let 
him  go  at  once. — Ah,  but  stay,"  and  she  fixed  her 
bright  eyes  full  upon  Phannias.  "  Is  it  true,  priest, 
that  thou  dost  also  play  the  Nazarite  ?" 

"  I  am  a  Nazarite  for  life,  princess,"  replied  the 
young  man,  who  had  been  awaiting  the  result  of 
the  conference  with  ill-concealed  impatience.  "  May 
I  remind  your  highness  that  my  errand  with  Florus 
is  an  urgent  one.  I  would  fain  be  allowed  to  de- 
part without  further  delay.** 

"  Hast  thou  then  displeasured  the  high  priest 
that  he  sends  thee  to  Florus, — alone  and  unat- 
tended ?"  asked  the  princess.  "  I  am  told  that  the 
amiable  procurator  hath  of  late  amused  his  leisure 
by  crucifying  every  Jew  who  hath  fallen  into  his 
hands." 

"  Nevertheless  I  must  go— and  at  once,"  said 
Phannias  firmly. 

"  But  thou  art  too  young  to  be  crucified — and, 
yes,  too  beautiful,"  murmured  the  princess,  drop- 
ping her  lids  with  a  sigh  !  Then  she  clapped  her 
exquisite  rose-tinted  palms  together  with  the  aban- 
don of  a  child.  "  I  will  go  with  thee  !"  she  cried 
out.  "  Am  I  not  also  a  Nazarite  ?  I  will  myself 
plead  for  the  people  \  The  Roman  can  never  say 
me  nay.  Then  all  this  unpleasant  blood  and  tumult 
will  be  done  away  with — truly  I  can  bear  it  no 
longer ! — No,  I  will  hear  no  word  from  thee,  Ti- 


MERODAH.  169 

mones  !  Am  I  not  my  own  mistress  ?  I  will  wear 
a  robe  of  purest  white,  with  my  hair  unbound  and 
streaming  to  its  hem,  and — yes,  my  feet  unsandaled. 
Come — come,  we  will  go  at  once  1" 


THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

A    RULER    OF  JERUSALEM. 

GESSIUS  FLORUS,  procurator  of  Judaea,  was 
a  just  product  of  his  time  ;  an  ex -slave  and 
hanger-on  at  the  court  of  Nero,  he  had  obtained 
his  present  position  as  a  reward  for  a  series  of  un- 
paralleled crimes,  committed  in  behalf  of  his  royal 
master. 

"Accept  Judaea  at  my  hands,  my  Gessius," 
quoth  Nero  at  a  banquet,  and  tossed  a  ripe  plum 
into  the  hand  of  the  sycophant ;  "  thou  wilt  find 
it  full  of  juice  as  is  this  fruit." 

Florus  had  accepted  the  proffered  honor  with 
profuse  gratitude.  "  If  the  plum  be  not  ripe,"  he 
said  sententiously,  "it  will  ripen  full  soon  in  the 
sunshine  of  my  reign." 

The  procurator  carried  with  him  into  Judaea  but 
one  ambition.  "  I  will  return,"  he  said,  "the  rich- 
est man  in  Rome." 

His  royal  master  heard  of  this  saying  and  smiled. 
"  The  diligent  bee  gathereth  honey,"  he  said,  affect- 
ing a  yawn,  "and  the  wise  master  eateth  thereof." 

Jerusalem  was  unquestionably  a  good  field  for 
the  operations  of  so  single-minded  a  ruler.  By 
means  of  taxes,  extortions  and  an  occasional  well- 


A  RULER  OF  JERUSALEM.  171 

timed  removal  of  some  rich  land-owner,  the  worthy 
Gessius  amassed  quite  a  handsome  sum  during  the 
course  of  his  first  year  in  office.  He  also  suc- 
ceeded in  making  himself  unpopular  to  a  degree 
with  the  masses  of  the  people.  As  for  the  priest- 
hood, that  herd  of  stern-faced  Jews,  with  their 
fierce  eyes  and  their  garrulous  tongues,  they  very 
quickly  became  a  source  of  positive  annoyance  to 
the  diligent  procurator.  And  when  they  openly 
threatened  to  expose  his  dealings  in  Rome,  he  be- 
came actually  alarmed.  Should  there  chance  to 
be  another  favorite  at  court  in  need  of  reward,  no 
one  knew  better  than  Gessius  that  his  term  of  office 
was  likely  to  be  terminated  with  unpleasant  sudden- 
ness. With  all  his  savage  stupidity  Florus  recog- 
nized in  Nero  the  superior  brute.  So  it  was  that 
he  feared  his  subjects,  and  hated  them  no  less  than 
he  feared  them. 

Meantime,  prodigious  tales  of  the  vast  wealth 
which  these  same  Jews  hoarded  in  their  jealously 
guarded  temple  came  to  his  ears.  His  favorite 
slave,  Lotan,  disguised  in  the  turban  and  tallith  of 
a  devout  Israelite,  on  one  occasion  actually  pene- 
trated as  far  as  the  Court  of  Israel;  from  whence 
he  brought  back  marvelous  reports  of  tables  and 
altars  and  great  vessels  of  solid  gold ;  fabulous 
garlands  and  chains  of  wrought  silver  sparkling 
with  gems  ;  and — most  to  be  coveted — a  mighty 
grapevine,  wrought  of  the  red  gold  of  Ophir,  which 
wreathed  the  vast  facade  of  the  Holy  Place,  the 


I72  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

branches  whereof  were  laden  with  clustered  grapes, 
every  separate  berry  of  which  was  a  precious  stone. 

Florus  clenched  his  hands  longingly.  "  They 
guard  their  treasure  like  stinging  wasps — these 
Jews,"  he  whined. 

"Destroy  the  nest,  worshipful  master,"  quoth 
Lotan,  with  a  significant  gesture,  "  and  the  wasps 
will  shortly  sting  each  other  to  the  death ;  as  for 
the  honey,  it  will  fall  into  the  hands  of  a  Avorthier." 

"  If  this  shall  happen  thou  art  a  slave  no  longer ; 
I  swear.it!"  cried  his  master.  "  The  wasps'  nest 
shall  fall  if  I  can  bring  it  to  pass  !"  So  did  Florus 
determine  to  fan  the  smoldering  discontent  into 
open  warfare.  It  would  be  a  simple  and  easy 
matter,  concluded  this  intelligent  ruler,  to  put  to 
death  every  man  who  ventured  to  insult  imperial 
Rome,  as  represented  in  his  own  person  and  dig- 
nity. To  gain  his  magnificent  ends  he  was  willing 
to  invite  such  contumely. 

"  These  Jews,"  he  wrote  to  his  royal  master 
about  this  time,  "  are  traitors  both  in  word  and 
deed.  They  persistently  refuse  to  honor  thy  divine 
image  ;  and  while  intent  upon  worshiping  a  nonen- 
tity, they  perpetually  incite  one  another  to  discord 
and  tumult,  crying  out  insulting  words  against 
Rome  and  against  thy  majesty.  I  am  determined 
to  punish  these  ingrates  as  they  deserve." 

The  effect  produced  by  his  first  move  in  this 
game  of  death  was  greater  and  more  far-reaching 
than  he  had  anticipated  ;  seventeen  talents  of  gold 


A  RULER  OF  JERUSALEM.  173 

swelled  the  sum  in  his  coffers,  while  three  thousand 
dead  bodies  lay  in  the  streets  and  market-places  of 
the  city.  When  the  people  in  their  grief  and  terror 
shut  themselves  within  their  desolated  homes  they 
were  goaded  into  fresh  fury  by  the  incursions  of 
roving  bands  of  soldiers,  who  broke  into  the  closed 
houses,  plundering,  torturing,  killing,  as  their 
drunken  fancy  dictated. 

Meanwhile  Florus  displayed  to  his  amazed  cap- 
tains the  face  of  a  religious  enthusiast.  "What!" 
he  exclaimed  in  a  fine  frenzy,  "  shall  this  conquered 
people  refuse  to  recognize  the  divinity  of  the  em- 
peror and  live  ?  Shall  they  heap  up  gold  and  pre- 
cious stones  to  the  honor  of  an  unknown  and  un- 
knowable God,  whilst  the  gracious  deities  of  Rome 
boast  not  a  single  altar  in  all  Jerusalem  ?  By  the 
Olympian  gods,  I,  Florus,  have  sworn  that  these 
things  shall  no  longer  be  !" 

Florus  was  low  in  stature  and  possessed  of  a 
countenance  both  pallid  and  fat,  whereon  the  story 
of  his  days  was  written  sharp  and  clear,  as  one 
writes  with  a  stylus  upon  a  tablet  of  wax.  It 
pleased  him  to  be  told  that  he  resembled  Nero ; 
like  his  royal  master  he  affected  many  niceties  of 
speech  and  apparel.  Since  coming  to  Jerusalem 
he  had  even  ventured  to  carry  the  royal  emerald 
set  in  jade,  which  he  held  before  his  eye  when  he 
wished  to  silence  or  intimidate  those  who  stood  in 
his  presence.  It  being  the  express  fashion  of  the 
moment  in  imperial  circles  to  witness  spectacles  of 


174  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

human  agony,  and  Jerusalem  being  without  a  suit- 
able arena  for  the  enjoyment  of  such  royal  sports, 
Florus  endeavored  to  supply  the  lack  by  planting  a 
series  of  crosses  about  his  tribunal,  which  was  set 
after  the  custom  in  the  open  square  before  his  pal- 
ace. "  These  crosses  " — never  untenanted — "  serve 
a  double  purpose,"  observed  the  sapient  procurator, 
"  since  they  furnish  a  wholesome  rebuke  to  those 
of  rebellious  mind,  as  well  as  a  much-needed  diver- 
sion from  the  dull  routine  of  matters  of  state." 

Into  the  presence  of  this  man,  as  he  sat  in  the 
ivory  chair  of  his  office,  came  the  princess  Berenice, 
the  fairest  woman  of  her  time ;  with  naked  feet ; 
clad  all  in  a  robe  of  white,  the  glorious  tresses  of 
her  hair  streaming  to  its  hem.  Behind  her  followed 
a  long  train  of  her  attendants,  also  barefooted  and 
wearing  the  symbols  of  mourning  and  despair.  At 
her  side — for  so  she  had  willed  it — walked  Phannias. 

"  Great  Florus,"  said  the  princess,  advancing  to 
the  tessellated  pavement,  whereon  all  criminals  and 
petitioners  before  the  tribunal  of  Rome  had  stood 
for  more  than  a  century,  "  I,  Berenice,  princess 
of  Israel,  do  beseech  of  thee  thy  august  clemency 
in  behalf  of  my  people.  If  they  have  grievously 
erred  in  thy  sight,  so  also  have  they  been  sorely 
punished.  Now  therefore  let  there  be  peace  be- 
twixt thee  and  the  people  of  Jerusalem  !" 

Florus  leaned  forward,  staring  exultantly  at  the 
queenly  figure  which  stood  before  him  ;  his  slug- 
gish soul  swelled  with  gratified  vanity.  A  princess, 


A  RULER  OF  JERUSALEM.  175 

barefooted,  humbled  to  the  dust  by  his  power  !  He 
narrowed  his  greedy  eyes  and  puffed  out  his  swollen 
cheeks  in  epicurean  enjoyment  of  this  new  and  de- 
lightful sensation. 

Berenice,  consummate  mistress  of  fascinations, 
slowly  lifted  the  fringed  curtain  of  her  lids,  and  per- 
mitted the  mysterious  splendor  of  her  eyes  to  blaze 
full  upon  the  fat,  pallid  face  of  the  man  in  the 
chair. 

For  an  instant  Florus  forgot  the  temple  treasure  ; 
his  breath  came  quick  and  fast.  "  Princess,"  he 
stammered,  "  I  am — "  He  was  about  to  say  "  I  am 
thy  slave  ;"  but  the  word  was  bound  up  with  hate- 
ful associations.  To  hide  his  embarrassment  he 
raised  the  emerald  to  his  eye,  and  the  action  re- 
stored him  to  himself.  He  turned  his  gaze  upon 
Phannias.  "Art  thou  also  here  to  plead  for  a 
blasphemous  and  stiff-necked  people  ?"  he  de- 
manded. 

"I  am  here  to  ask  justice  for  the  people  of  Is- 
rael," answered  Phannias. 

"These  also  asked  for  justice — and  received  it," 
said  the  procurator,  pointing  to  the  crosses  with 
their  ghastly  burdens.  "What  canst  thou  say  in 
defense  of  a  people  who  refuse  to  worship  the 
divinity  which  the  gods  have  set  up?" 

"  The  laws  of  Rome  permit  us  the  enjoyment  of 
the  religion  of  Jehovah ;  the  matter  was  settled 
beyond  a  peradventure  long  before  thy  day  of 
power.  I  plead  only  the  just  observance  of  exist- 


1 76  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

ing  law.  In  behalf  of  the  chiefs  of  the  Jewish 
nation  do  I  stand  in  thy  presence." 

Florus  threw  himself  back  in  his  chair.  "  I  am 
Rome,"  he  said  loudly.  "  I  am  the  law." 

With  an  imperious  gesture  Berenice  commanded 
Phannias  to  be  silent.  "  I  ask  not  for  justice,  great 
Roman,"  she  cried,  extending  her  lovely  naked 
arms  toward  the  tribunal  ;  "  I  beseech  thee  for 
mercy — mercy  for  an  erring  and  rebellious  people, 
whose  children  and  whose  children's  children  shall 
hail  the  name  of  the  illustrious  Florus  with  accla- 
mations ;  if  only  thou  wilt  extend  to  them  the  pro- 
tection of  thy  mighty  power  !" 

Florus  permitted  a  smile  to  distort  the  mask-like 
composure  of  his  face.  Without  deviating  a  whit 
from  his  original  purpose,  he  had  conceived  on  the 
instant  the  idea  of  adding  another  jewel  to  his 
hoard.  A  royal  wife  at  my  side,  he  thought  within 
himself,  will  increase  my  power,  even  as  the 
worthless  cipher  set  beside  the  numeral  makes  it 
greater  than  before.  "Depart  in  peace,  princess  !" 
he  said,  uxorious  indulgence  already  evident  in  his 
tones  ;  "  for  thy  sake  alone  will  I  relax  the  severity 
of  my  course  toward  this  rebellious  people. — Jove 
be  my  witness,"  he  continued,  with  a  lofty  gesture, 
"  I  am  not  to  be  moved  by  threats  !  My  will 
is  as  adamant ;  my  purposes  are  eternal  and  un- 
changing ;  yet  if  future  generations  shall  laud  the 
clemency  of  Florus,  they  shall  speak  also  of  the 
beauteous  princess,  who  at  peril  of  her  life  sued 


A  RULER  OF  JERUSALEM.  177 

for  that  clemency  at  his  feet  Princess,  I  salute 
thee  !" 

Berenice  bent  her  proud  head  to  conceal  the 
smile  of  triumph  and  of  scorn  that  played  about 
her  lips.  "Admirable  Florus,"  she  murmured,  "  I 
thank  thee  in  behalf  of  the  people  of  Israel — and 
also  for  myself.  Thou  shalt  indeed  be  remembered, 
as  princess  of  the  Asmonean  line,  I  swear  it.  Thy 
stern  adherence  to  justice  is  already  known  to  my 
brother  Agrippa  ;  he  shall  now  learn  of  thy  gener- 
ous clemency.  Doubt  not  that  this  day  shall  be  a 
memorable  one  both  for  thee  and  for  me." 

The  enamored  procurator  pursed  up  his  lips — 
after  the  fashion  of  Nero  when  in  the  company  of 
beautiful  women.  "A  memorable  day,"  he  re- 
peated, in  tones  of  fatuous  admiration, — "a  memor- 
able day  for  thee  and  for  me." 

In  the  seclusion  of  his  palace  the  parting  words 
of  the  princess  recurred  to  his  mind.  "That 
Agrippa,"  he  growled  to  his  slave  and  private 
adviser,  Lotan,  "is  a  smooth  and  soft-spoken 
knave  ;  but  not  to  be  trusted — curse  him  !  Never- 
theless, I  will  have  the  woman  and  the  treasure." 

"  Who  is  more  worthy  to  obtain  both  than  the 
illustrious  Florus," — and  the  slave  bowed  himself 
almost  to  the  ground;  "yet  if  I  may  mention  the 
fact,  King  Agrippa  is  already  on  his  way  to  Jeru- 
salem." 

The  procurator  smote  his  thigh  with  a  great 
oath.  "  The  matter  must  be  finished  !"  he  cried. 

12 


178  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

An  hour  later  the  chief  priests  received  the  fol- 
lowing communication  : 

"  I,  Gessius  Florus,  appointed  by  the  divine  Nero 
to  bear  rule  in  his  stead  over  all  the  provinces  of 
Judaea,  do  hereby  command  the  people  of  Jerusa- 
lem to  submit  peaceably  to  the  rule  of  Rome,  as 
they  value  their  lives  and  their  religion.  They 
have  already  rebelled  and  have  been  punished. 
And  now  do  I,  Florus,  solemnly  swear  to  extend 
to  the  citizens  of  Jerusalem  a  full  and  uncondi- 
tional pardon  for  all  offences  which  they  have  com- 
mitted against  the  divine  authority,  if  on  their  part 
they  signify  their  willingness  to  obey  the  just  and 
equitable  laws  of  the  adored  and  adorable  Nero 
— whom  may  the  gods  preserve  !  This  submission 
shall  be  tendered  in  the  following  manner :  Two 
cohorts  of  soldiers  are  on  their  way  to  Jerusalem 
from  Caesarea.  Now  therefore,  bid  the  people  as- 
semble at  the  gate  to  meet  these  cohorts  with  ac- 
clamations of  loyalty.  In  this  manner  and  in  no 
other  shall  they  obtain  pardon  for  their  heinous 
crime  of  treason  against  the  majesty  of  Rome." 

In  the  same  hour  he  sent  swift  messengers  to 
meet  the  advancing  cohorts,  bearing  despatches 
which  informed  the  commanding  officers  that  Jeru- 
salem was  in  a  state  of  insurrection.  "  If  ye  shall 
find  a  mob  of  lawless  citizens  in  the  streets  and  at 
the  gates  upon  your  arrival," — ran  the  message — 
"  do  not  scruple  to  cut  them  down  without  mercy. 
Such  also  is  the  will  of  the  emperor." 


A  RULER  OF  JERUSALEM.  179 

The  mourning  people  were  already  assembled  in 
vast  numbers  in  the  temple ;  and  to  them  Ananus, 
as  tlie  most  venerated  of  the  high  priests,  addressed 
himself.  The  proclamation  of  Florus  had  been 
posted  in  prominent  places  in  the  temple  courts, 
and  loud  murmurs  of  surprise  and  suspicion  had 
greeted  it. 

"We  have  broken  no  law,"  cried  the  chiefs  of 
the  common  people ;  "  why  should  we  kiss  the 
sword  that  smites  us  ?  Rather  let  us  meet  the  co- 
horts with  such  arms  as  we  may  muster  and  ex- 
change our  lives  for  the  blood  of  Rome." 

Ananus  rent  his  garments  with  loud  cries  of 
grief.  "  Submit — submit !"  he  wailed,  "  that  the 
tyrant  may  possess  no  excuse  to  continue  his  out- 
rages !"  Whereat,  as  had  been  previously  arranged, 
the  Levites  emerged  from  their  underground  music 
rooms,  bearing  the  golden  trumpets  and  the  instru- 
ments of  sweet  music  with  which  they  were  wont 
to  make  melody  before  the  Lord  of  Hosts.  Fol- 
lowing the  Levites  came  the  priests  in  long  proces- 
sion, laden  with  the  golden  bowls  of  sacrifice  and 
the  holy  garments,  of  white,  of  scarlet  and  of  blue. 
"  Look  upon  these  sacred  objects,  which  your  fathers 
have  revered  during  the  ages !"  cried  Ananus. 
"  Look  also  upon  this  temple  which  is  the  place  of 
your  solemnities  !  Would  ye  behold  these  things  in 
the  grasp  of  the  Gentiles  ?  Would  ye  see  this  sanc- 
tuary defiled  with  blood  and  despoiled  of  its  treasure? 
If  ye  rebel  against  the  power  of  Rome  these  things 


l8o  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

will  surely  follow.  Submit,  as  becometh  men  and 
patriots,  and  shortly  all  these  enormities  shall  be 
done  away  with !  Messengers  bearing  evidence 
which  will  assuredly  depose  this  monster,  Florus, 
are  already  on  their  way  to  the  emperor.  Behold 
Jehovah  of  Hosts  is  our  God  ;  he  will  also  bring  it 
to  pass !" 

Immediately  the    Levites  burst  forth   in  grand 
chorus : 

"  Rejoice  in  Jehovah  ye  righteous  ! 
Give  thanks  to  Jehovah  with  the  harp  ; 
Make  music  unto  him  with  the  lute  of  ten  strings  ! 
Sing  unto  him  a  new  song  ; 
Play  skilfully  with  glad  shouting  ! 
For  Jehovah's  word  is  true, 
And  all  his  work  is  faithful ! 
By  the  word  of  Jehovah  the  heavens  were  made, 
And  all  their  host  by  the  breath  of  his  mouth  ! 
He  gathereth  as  in  heaps  the  waters  of  the  sea ; 
He  storeththe  deeps  in  treasure  houses  ! 
Let  all  the  earth  fear  before  Jehovah  ! 
Stand  in  awe  of  him,  all  that  dwell  in  the  world  ! 
For  he  spake  and  it  was  done, 
He  commanded,  and  it  stood  fast ! 
Jehovah  brought  the  counsels  of  the  nations  to  naught ; 
The  thoughts  of  the  people  he  made  of  none  effect ! 
The  counsel  of  Jehovah  standeth  fast  forever, 
The  thoughts  of  his  heart  from  age  to  age ! 
Happy  the  nation  whose  God  is  Jehovah, 
The  people  whom  he  hath  chosen  for  his  heritage !" 

Once  again  the   smoke  of  the  evening  sacrifice 
ascended  solemnly  into  the  dumb  heavens,  and  the 


A  RULER  OF  JERUSALEM.  181 

people  fell  on  their  faces  before  the  altar.  Then 
with  the  high-priestly  blessing  yet  sounding  in  their 
ears  they  went  forth  obediently  toward  the  Damas- 
cus gate. 


x82  THE  CEOSS  TRIUMPHANT. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

A    DAUGHTER   OF   THE   HERODS. 

THE  princess  Berenice  returned  to  the  dreary 
old  palace  of  the  Herods  in  a  frame  of  mind 
which  bordered  upon  exultation.  She  beheld  in 
imagination  the  city  of  Jerusalem  at  her  feet  in 
humble  thankfulness  and  adoration,  while  the  fame 
of  her  great  deed  fled  away  to  imperial  Rome. 

She  leaned  forward  and  surveyed  critically  the 
face  which  looked  back  at  her  from  the  depths  of  a 
small  mirror  fastened  at  a  convenient  angle  to  the 
side  of  her  litter.  Time  had  left  no  mark,  save  the 
seal  of  a  ripe  perfection,  on  that  brow  and  cheek 
of  purest  ivory,  beneath  which  the  red  blood  glowed 
with  the  delicious  color  of  rose-tinted  clouds ;  the 
bow  of  the  scarlet  lips  parted,  revealing  the  white 
even  teeth  within  ;  then  the  lips  drooped  over  the 
lustrous  eyes. 

"  I  am  more  beautiful  than  ever,"  she  sighed, 
" — more  beautiful  ? — Nay,  I  am  most  beautiful — 
why  should  I  not  say  what  is  the  truth  !  The  Ro- 
man yonder  devoured  me  with  his  basilisk  eyes.  I 
read  his  thoughts.  I  will  hold  him  in  leash,  like 

the  beast  that  he  is,  till  he  is  powerless  ;  then " 

She  sank  back  against  the  gay,  embroidered 


A  DAUGHTER  OF  THE  HERODS.  183 

cushions,  dreamily  surveying  the  exquisite  outlines 
of  her  form  beneath  the  silken  coverlid.  "  The  em- 
press is  dead," — so  ran  the  tenor  of  her  silent 
thought — "  murdered  by  a  kick  from  her  lord  and 
master.  There  are  thousands  who  are  eager  to 
take  her  place.  There  is  but  one  woman  in  all  the 
circle  of  the  earth  fit  to  grace  the  imperial  throne. 
I  am  that  woman.  Yet  Nero  is  frightful — bloated 
— malevolent ;  in  short,  a  swine  in  the  guise  of 
man."  She  frowned  and  sighed  again.  "  If  only 
one  might  love  a  god — like  the  Nazarite  yonder  ; — 
nay,  why  should  I  not  amuse  myself  with  the  lad ; 
'twill  help  pass  away  these  interminable  days." 

The  slave  who  walked  beside  the  litter  leapt  for- 
ward as  a  white  hand  appeared  for  an  instant  be- 
tween the  closely-drawn  curtains.  "The  priest — 
the  Nazarite;  is  he  with  us,  as  I  commanded?" 

"  He  refused  to  return  to  the  palace,  gracious 
princess." 

"  Refused  ?     What  sayest  thou  ?" 

"The  man  insisted,  admirable  highness,  that  he 
must  needs  return  to  the  house  of  the  high  priest." 

"  Send  to  the  house  of  the  high  priest  and  fetch 
the  Nazarite  to  me  at  once — at  once ;  I  command 
it." 

But  it  was  more  than  two  hours  later  when 
Phannias  was  ushered  into  the  presence  of  the  royal 
lady. 

Berenice  lay,  half  reclined,  upon  a  couch  of 
carved  ivory  cushioned  with  palest  rose,  the  un- 


184  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

bound  tresses  of  her  magnificent  hair,  wound 
with  pearls,  descending  like  a  cloud  across  the 
dazzling  silver  of  her  robe.  She  raised  her  lovely 
eyes  at  his  approach.  "  Ah,  I  perceive  that  thou 
art  not  pleased  to  be  summoned  to  our  presence," 
she  said,  affecting  displeasure. 

The  young  man  stared  at  the  vision  for  a  full 
minute  in  silence.  "Why  didst  thou  send  for 
me?"  he  asked,  abruptly. 

A  shadowy  smile  touched  the  lips  of  the  prin- 
cess. In  truth  this  gigantic  Nazarite — with  the 
clear  eyes  of  a  boy — promised  exquisite  amuse- 
ment. "  Canst  thou  ask  ?"  she  cried,  with  a  fervor 
born  of  the  conviction.  "  Did  not  we  stand  to- 
gether on  the  verge  of  death  ?  And  is  it  meet  that 
we  part  as  strangers  ?" 

She  studied  the  face  before  her  for  a  little,  then 
went  on  with  a  rapid  gesture.  "  After  all,  'tis  to 
thee  that  the  victory  belongs.  The  brute  yonder 
had  thrust  the  eternal  laws  of  Rome  behind  his 
back  ;  thou  didst  hold  them  up  before  his  face  as  a 
mirror,  wherein  he  looked  shuddering  and  beheld 
his  ruin.  Yet  it  soothed  his  ruffled  vanity  to 
promise  mercy  for  my  poor  sake,  that  he  might  not 
appear  to  yield  to  superior  force.  Come,  we  will 
sup  together,  thou  and  I,  in  honor  of  thy  triumph." 

"Thou  doest  me  too  much  honor,  princess," 
stammered  Phannias.  "  Yet  I  cannot  remain. 
I " 

Berenice    lifted   her   brows.      "  Cannot  ? — Nay, 


A  DA  UGHTER  OF  THE  IIERODS.  185 

that  were  a  word  we  do  not  understand.  It  pleases 
thy  queen  that  thou  sup  in  her  presence  ;  thou  wilt 
obey." 

At  a  motion  of  her  hand  slaves  appeared,  bear- 
ing a  small  but  exquisitely  appointed  table.  "  We 
do  as  we  must  in  this  frightful  place,"  laughed  the 
princess,  with  a  sudden  change  of  manner.  "It  is 
called  a  palace ;  but  with  all  due  respect  to  my 
royal  ancestors  it  appears  to  me  but  little  better 
than  a  barracks."  As  she  spoke  she  motioned 
Phannias  to  a  place  at  her  side. 

The  face  of  the  Nazarite  was  a  study,  as  he 
slowly  obeyed.  Berenice,  stealing  a  sidelong 
glance  at  her  reluctant  guest,  concluded  that  he 
was  overcome  with  fear  or  embarrassment — or 
both.  "  Didst  thou  carry  word  of  our  success  to 
the  high  priest?"  she  asked  sweetly. 

"  I  repeated  to  him  the  promise  of  Florus — 
yes." 

"And  what  said  he?" 

Phannias  looked  up  to  meet  the  full  glance  of 
the  beautiful,  serious  eyes.  "He  said  —  many 
things ;  I  cannot  tell  thee  all ;  it  is  not  true." 

"  They  do  not  love  me — these  excellent  priests," 
said  Berenice,  shrugging  her  shoulders  Avith  an  in- 
different laugh.  "Well,  I  do  not  love  them  ;  the 
account  is  therefore  balanced  betwixt  us.  But  thou 
— Nay,  why  art  thou  a  priest  ?  Dost  thou  love  the 
life?  Tell  me  truly." 

"  I  wish  above  all  things  to  serve  Jehovah." 


1 86  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

"  To  serve  Jehovah — yes ;  but  do  the  priests 
serve  Jehovah  ?" 

Phannias'  black  brows  met ;  he  looked  down 
without  answering  at  the  dishes  heaped  with  deli- 
cate viands,  which  attentive  slaves  had  placed  be- 
fore him. 

"  Ah,  thou  knowest  full  well  that  they  do  not !" 
cried  the  lady,  with  a  light  ripple  of  laughter. 
"They  bow  themselves  before  a  God  they  know 
not ;  they  offer  unnumbered  sacrifices ;  deck  their 
foul  bodies  with  holy  robes  ;  bawl  out  long  prayers 
on  every  street  corner ;  haggle  and  twist  the  let- 
ters of  some  dead  law  till  their  voices  sound  mean- 
ingless as  the  clink  of  this  goblet ;  and  all  the  while 
they  despoil  the  poor — lie — cheat — hate — murder. 
Ay,  it  is  true ;  I  know  them.  I  know  enough  of 
all  religions — "  she  continued,  after  a  pause,  during 
which  the  attendants  crowned  the  pair  with  rose 
garlands, — "  to  declare  to  thee  that  all  religions  are 
one  and  the  same  ;  a  shell  of  dreary  ceremonial 
masking — rottenness  ;  grave-clothes — scarce  cover- 
ing dead  bodies." 

She  shuddered  lightly,  then  laughed  again ;  a 
sound  as  musical  and  sweet,  thought  the  bewil- 
dered Phannias,  as  the  sound  of  singing  birds  in  the 
garden  at  Aphtha. 

"No,  for  myself  I  do  not  believe  in  these  relig- 
ions," pursued  the  princess,  observing  with  satis- 
faction the  faint  smile  that  flitted  shadowlike  across 
the  face  at  her  side.  "  I  once  heard  a  Jew  called 


A  DAUGHTER  OF  THE  HEBODS.  187 

Paulus,  a  prisoner  in  bonds,  on  his  way  to  Rome  to 
be  tried — for  what  I  know  not.  He  had  angered 
the  priests  by  his  heresies,  perchance,  and  they 
hated  him  for  it. — Yes,  I  remember  me  now ;  and 
to  save  himself,  being  a  Roman  citizen,  he  had  ap- 
pealed to  Caesar.  Poor  fool  ;  he  tarried  in  his 
prison  three  years,  then  went  forth  to  his  death — 
not  a  year  ago.  Caesar  hates  all  Christians." 

"  Christians  !"  exclaimed  Phannias  ;  "  what  know- 
est  thou  of  Christians  ?" 

"  Priest  and  Nazarite — art  thou  also  apostate  ? 
Truly,  I  could  tell  thee  much  concerning  Chris- 
tians if  I  would.  They  are  a  strange  folk.  And, 
by  the  girdle  of  Venus,  I  believe  that  they  have 
seen  something  that  we  know  not  of.  This  Paul 
— of  whom  I  spoke — in  chains,  in  rags,  and  bowed 
with  age,  stood  up  in  presence  of  Festus,  King 
Agrippa  and  myself,  with  the  people  of  our  train, 
and  spoke  for  himself  right  boldly. 

"And  what  said  he  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth?"  de- 
manded Phannias,  fixing  his  eyes  upon  the  face  of 
the  princess  with  unconcealed  interest. 

Berenice  was  visibly  piqued  and  displeased. 
Who  and  what  manner  of  man  was  this  boorish 
priest,  to  whom  she  had  already  shown  favor  for 
which  princes  would  have  knelt ;  and  who  had 
looked  coldly  upon  her  beauty,  only  to  kindle  at 
the  mention  of  a  dead  malefactor.  She  gazed  long 
into  the  dark,  eager  face,  framed  in  its  loose-curl- 
ing locks  ;  then  her  glance  slipped  serpent-wise  to 


188  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

the  broad  shoulders  and  the  light  but  powerful 
limbs.  "  Veil  of  the  Holiest !"  she  murmured, 
with  a  curl  of  her  scarlet  lip,  "  thou  hast  the  face 
of  an  Apollo,  the  body  of  a  warrior  and  the  soul  of 
a  puling  babe  !" 

Phannias  paled  beneath  the  bold  eyes  of  the  wo- 
man. "  Thou  wilt  permit  an  unworthy  servant  of 
Jehovah,  who  has  failed  to  please  his  queen,  to 
withdraw  from  her  presence,"  he  said  deliberately. 
"  I  crave  also  to  remind  her  that  I  am  in  the  palace 
of  the  Herods,  not  by  mine  own  will,  but  in  obedi- 
ence to  her  positive  command.  Princess,  I  salute 
thee !  Farewell." 

Berenice  sprang  to  her  feet  with  a  gay  laugh ;  if 
her  vagrant  fancy  had  hovered  like  some  wander- 
ing bee  over  this  strangely  beautiful  youth,  it 
needed  but  this  to  ensnare  it. 

"  No — No  !"  she  cried  ;  "  thou  shalt  not  go.  I 
but  said  it  to  test  thee.  Come,  I 'will  tell  thee  of 
the  Christians, — all  that  thou  wilt. — Nay,  I  com- 
mand thee.  Also  thou  canst  go  no  further  than  the 
door  of  this  banqueting  hall,  for  my  soldiers  stand 
before  the  door." 

Phannias  sank  once  more  into  his  place  ;  but  his 
eyes  were  clouded,  and  he  bent  them  more  coldly 
than  ever  upon  the  smiling  woman  at  his  side. 

"  Shall  I — who  would  be  empress,  fail  to  win 
approval  from  this  clod  of  a  priest?"  Berenice 
asked  herself  angrily.  "  See,  I  will  take  it  for  an 
omen ;  if  I  conquer  this  hind  I  shall  also  subjugate 


A  DAUGHTER  OF  THE  IIERODS.  189 

Caesar."  And  equipping  herself  with  every  weapon 
in  her  armory  of  fascinations  she  bent  herself  to 
conquest.  From  grave  to  gay  ran  the  current  of 
her  sparkling  talk ;  while  smiles,  frowns,  blushes, 
dimples,  chased  one  another  across  the  lovely  face 
as  swift  as  cloud  shadows  athwart  rich,  flowering 
meadows. 

Phannias  was  dazzled — bewildered  ;  and — being 
altogether  human — pleased  with  the  veiled  defer- 
ence of  her  tones  and  gestures.  Without  compre- 
hending the  subtle  reasons  for  it  all,  the  Nazarite 
held  his  head  with  a  more  stately  grace,  giving 
glance  for  glance,  and  word  for  word  in  brilliant 
repartee. 

From  time  to  time  he  drank  from  the  jeweled 
goblet  which  stood  at  his  elbow  ;  it  contained — the 
princess  assured  him,  with  a  smile  of  delighted 
mischief — nothing  more  nor  less  than  purest  water, 
stung  with  spices.  And  Phannias,  through  whose 
unaccustomed  veins  coursed  the  colorless  but  po- 
tent wine  of  Chios,  presently  decided  that  this 
princess  was  in  truth  the  most  beautiful  and  gra- 
cious lady  in  all  Jerusalem — nay,  in  all  the  world. 
Curiously  enough  at  this  point  in  the  hidden  cur- 
rent of  his  thought  the  remembrance  of  the  little 
Jewish  maiden,  whom  he  had  wrested  from  the 
grasp  of  the  soldier,  came  back  to  him.  He  was 
astonished  to  perceive,  as  he  beheld  this  remem- 
bered face,  that  it  was  beautiful.  Turning  to  his 
royal  hostess  with  a  hesitation  learned  wholly 


190  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

within  the  hour,  he  asked  what  had  become  of  the 
girl. 

"Of  the  shopkeeper's  daughter?"  she  asked,  a 
dangerous  sparkle  in  her  eyes. 

"  I  know  nothing  of  the  maid — whether  or  no 
she  be  the  daughter  of  a  shopkeeper,"  answered 
Phannias,  vaguely  discomfited. 

Berenice  leaned  forward  and  laid  her  white  hand 
upon  his  arm.  "  Tell  me  truly  about  the  girl,"  she 
cooed.  "  I  am  no  hypocritical  rabbi  to  be  offended 
with  a  young  man  because  he  is  not  an  old  one. 
The  little  maid  is  very  beautiful  ;  is  it  not  so  ?" 

"I  had  not  thought — "  stammered  Phannias, 
proud  of  dissembling.  He  dropped  his  dazzled  eyes 
before  the  burning  splendor  of  the  gaze  that  was 
fastened  upon  him.  "I  never  before  saw  the  girl." 

"Thou  hast  told  the  truth  in  that  word,"  ob- 
served the  princess,  with  an  enigmatical  smile ; 
"thine  eyes  were  not  yet  opened.  Verily,  the 
gods  are  kind  to  me — and  will  be  kinder.  Au- 
gusta Victoria  !*  what  sayest  thou  ;  is  it  not  a 
sounding  name? — fit  to  grace  triumphant  beauty?" 
She  laughed  aloud,  as  one  laughs  who  has  won  an 
easy  victory. 

"  I  once  visited  an  aged  Nazarene,  concerning 
whom  I  had  a  curiosity,"  she  continued,  after  a 
little  silence.  "  He  had  wrought  strange  miracles, 
it  was  said  ;  had  caused  the  lame  to  walk  ;  opened 

*  Augusta ;  a  title  of  the  Empress  of.  Rome  :  Victoria ;  the 
Latin  form  of  the  name  Berenice. 


A  DAUGHTER  OF  THE  IIERODS.  191 

blind  eyes  and  the  like — all  Christians  are  reputed 
wizards.  I  disguised  myself  as  a  woman  of  the 
people  and,  attended  by  a  single  slave,  went  to  this 
man's  house.  It  was  here  in  Jerusalem.  He  was 
sitting  quite  alone  in  a  great  bare  chamber,  writing 
upon  a  scroll.  '  I  am  lame,  good  Nazarene,'  I 
whined,  affecting  to  limp  as  I  entered  his  presence  ; 
'  wilt  thou  not  heal  me  ?'  Had  he  spoken  words 
of  incantation,  waving  his  arms  aloft,  as  do  the 
lying  magic-mongers  of  Rome  and  Athens,  I  had 
the  intent  to  fling  a  coin  in  his  face  ;  I  had  no  fear 
of  any  man — then  or  now.  But  he  said  no  word  ; 
only  looked  at  me  with  his  wise,  deep  eyes,  till,  I 
swear  to  thee,  the  water  of  shame  stood  in  drops 
upon  my  forehead  ;  then  he  turned  and  read,  as  if 
from  his  scroll  ;  '  Whosoever  transgresseth,  and 
abideth  not  in  the  doctrine  of  Christ,  hath  not  God. 
If  there  come  any  such  unto  you,  receive  him  not 
into  your  house,  neither  bid  him  God-speed ;  for 
he  that  biddeth  him  God-speed  is  partaker  of  his 
evil  deeds.' 

"  '  Nay,  good  Nazarene,'  I  besought  him  peni- 
tently, '  give  me  a  word  less  harsh  to  carry  into  the 
world.' — Truly  for  the  instant  I  had  the  desire  to 
please  the  man.  Again  he  looked  upon  me,  and 
with  wondrous  kindness — I  had  let  down  the  veil 
from  before  my  face.  '  Daughter,'  he  said,  '  I  will 
give  thee  a  true  word  and  precious ;  it  is  this  : 
'  Love  is  of  God ;  and  every  one  that  loveth 
knoweth  God.'  " 


192  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

The  silver  tones  sank  to  a  low,  musical  murmur ; 
and  Phannias,  shaken  to  the  depths  of  his  soul  by 
the  divine  truth  and  beauty  of  the  words,  though 
he  wist  not  anything  of  the  horrible  travesty  of 
their  utterance,  leaned  toward  his  companion. 

"Ah,  yes,"  he  cried  exultantly,  "that  is  true — 
true !  I  know  it — I  feel  it.  How  beautiful  to  be- 
lieve that  it  is  true  !"  He  extended  his  hand  me- 
chanically toward  his  goblet ;  it  was  empty. 

Berenice  raised  her  hand  with  an  angry  gesture. 
"  More  wine,  slave,"  she  whispered. 

Phannias  started  back  before  that  sibilant  utter- 
ance as  from  a  blow.  "Wine!"  he  echoed  sharply. 

The  princess  bit  her  lip  with  vexation.  "  I  did 
not  mean  it — truly ;  'twas  but  a  slip  of  this  care- 
less tongue." 

"No — no !  Poor  fool  that  I  am  to  become  the  sport 
of  a  woman  !  My  vow — I  have  broken  my  vow !" 

"And  what  is  thy  trumpery  vow  more  than 
mine  ?"  demanded  Berenice,  springing  to  her  feet. 
"  Thou  hast  broken  thy  vow  ?  What  then  ;  thou 
hast  broken  a  chain  !  What  hath  thy  vow  done 
for  thee  ?  Has  it  fed  thee, — clothed  thee, — warmed 
thee, — pleasured  thee?  Nay,  I  trow  not.  I  too  was 
a  Nazarite — why  ?  To  please  yon  rotten  priest- 
hood ;  to  gain  power  and  influence  for  my  ambi- 
tious brother.  I  have  broken  my  vow — for  love  ; 
and  thou,  my  beautiful  Phannias — canst  thou  not 
forgive  me  if,  when  breaking  the  shackles  from  my 
own  limbs,  I  have  also  made  thee  a  free  man  ?" 


A  DAUGHTER  OF  THE  HERODS.  193 

Phannias  stared  dumbly  into  the  exquisite  face, 
lifted  so  beseechingly  to  his.  "  For  love's  sake, 
my  Phannias,"  she  whispered,  and  wavered  toward 
him  like  a  tall,  sweet  lily,  bowed  before  the  impe- 
rious wind. 

He  would  have  caught  her  with  a  sob  of  pain 
and  joy  in  his  strong  young  arms,  but  on  the  in- 
stant she  recoiled,  stiffening  in  sudden  fear  and 
amaze  at  the  sound  of  hurrying  feet  in  the  corridor 
without.  The  door  of  the  banqueting  hall  was 
flung  open.  "Agrippa!"  she  exclaimed;  then 
seeing  the  blood  upon  his  drawn  sword,  "  What  is 
it — what  has  happened  ?" 

The  man  who  had  thus  rudely  entered  cast  a 
frowning  glance  about  the  room.  "  The  people  of 
Jerusalem  are  crying  out  for  the  blood  of  a  certain 
princess,  who  has  sold  them — they  declare — to 
the  Roman,  Florus,"  he  said  hoarsely,  bringing  his 
fiery  eyes  to  a  standstill  on  the  white  face  of  the 
woman.  "  What  hast  thou  done  ?  Answer  !" 

"  I  ? — But  why  dost  thou  speak  to  me  as  though 
I  were  some  base-born  slave  who  had  earned  thy 
royal  displeasure  ?  Nay,  I  will  answer  thee  noth- 
ing!" 

"Thou  wilt  answer  them,  and  that  right  speedily," 
said  Agrippa,  with  a  significant  gesture. 

Berenice  listened  to  the  ominous  sounds  from 
without  for  an  instant.  "What — what  has  hap- 
pened ?"  she  faltered.  "  I — I  have  done  nothing — 
I  swear  it ;  save  to  ask  mercy  for  this  howling  rab- 

13 


194  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

ble  at  the  knees  of  Florus.  He  promised  it  me,  on 
the  word  of  his  honor." 

"The  people  lie  dead  in  uncounted  thousands 
about  the  Damascus  Gate,"  answered  Agrippa, 
bitterly ;  "  cut  down  by  the  Roman  cohorts.  The 
prudent  Florus  has  retired  to  Caesarea  to  gloat  over 
his  victims  at  a  safe  distance.  Wilt  thou  join  him 
there,  fair  enchantress  ?  Or  hast  thou,  haply,  an- 
other affair  of  more  pressing  moment  in  Jeru- 
salem ?" 

Berenice's  eyes  flamed  with  sudden  fury.  "  I 
hate  you !"  she  cried.  Then  she  turned  suddenly 
upon  Phannias.  "  Go,  fool,"  she  said  sharply. 
"Canst  thou  not  see  that  thou  art  no  longer 
wanted  ?" 


' 'AS  JBIEDS  FL  YIXG."  1 95 


CHAPTER  XX. 

"AS    BIRDS    FLYING." 

THE  days  had  passed  slowly  for  Rachel,  alone 
in  her  cottage  at  Aphtha.  She  had  received 
news  of  her  son  but  once  since  the  morning  he  left 
her  for  Jerusalem  ;  this  was  when  Ben  Huna,  smart- 
ing with  his  disappointment,  had  returned  to  the 
village.  The  rabbi  told  her  gently  of  the  flaw  in 
the  line  of  descent,  which  at  present  loomed  up  in 
the  guise  of  an  insuperable  barrier  to  the  illustrious 
future  which  the  good  man  fully  believed  lay  before 
his  favorite. 

Rachel  was  somewhat  bewildered  by  the  legal 
phraseology  into  which  Ben  Huna  allowed  himself 
to  stray,  in  the  course  of  his  dissertation  on  the  na- 
ture and  scope  of  the  priestly  office.  She  under- 
stood but  one  thing  clearly  ;  Phannias  could  not 
follow  the  career  which  she  had  herself  planned 
out  for  him,  and  which  had  threatened  to  sunder 
their  lives  so  widely.  Her  eyes  brightened. 

"  Ah,  yes,"  she  cried,  with  a  tremulous  sigh  and 
smile,  "  I  quite  understand  ;  my  poor  child  has  been 
rejected.  Alas,  that  it  is  so  !  Yet  one  must  bow  to 
the  will  of  God.  My  son  will  now  return  to  me, 
and  we  shall  live  here  quite  happily  as  before." 


196  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

"  Not  so,  woman,"  said  Ben  Huna,  all  the  maj- 
esty of  the  law  in  his  tone  and  gesture;  "it  is 
indeed  the  will  of  God  that  we  bow  to  the  inevit- 
able ;  but  let  us  first  be  sure  that  it  is  the  inevitable 
which  confronts  us.  The  lad  will  remain  in  the 
temple,  honorably  employed,  whilst  I  fare  forth  to 
look  to  this  matter.  I  have  already  collected  data 
which  will  enable  me  to  search  out — ay,  and  to 
make  -good  this  proof  which  is  required." 

"But  why — "  urged  the  widow  timidly,  "could 
he  not  remain  with  me  till  thou  hast  succeeded  in  thy 
search.  I — I  am  alone,  as  thou  seest,  and " 

"  More  than  once  hast  thou  had  opportunity  to 
furnish  thyself  with  a  husband,"  quoth  the  rabbi. 
"Thou  art  without  companionship  because  thou  hast 
willed  it.  Behold  it  is  written  :  '  It  is  not  good  for 
man  to  be  alone.'  As  for  woman,  she  was  made  by 
Jehovah  for  no  other  purpose  than  to  minister  to  the 
needs  and  pleasures  of  man  ;  by  herself  she  is  as 
nothing.  This  is  the  law,  and  it  is  also  good." 

Rachel's  brown  cheeks  flushed  crimson.  If  at 
any  time  she  had  cherished  rebellious  and  un- 
womanly thoughts  concerning  the  laws  made  by 
man  for  man,  she  had  also  the  grace  to  be  silent 
concerning  them. 

Ben  Huna  regarded  the  downcast  face  of  the 
widow  with  a  certain  kindly  indulgence,  not  un- 
mixed with  approval.  Rachel  was  still  a  singularly 
comely  woman  ;  and  for  the  rest,  there  was  not  a 
better  piece  of  land  nor  a  cosier  house  in  all  the 


"AS  BIRDS  FL  YINO. "  197 

village  of  Aphtha.  "Ah  well, "he  continued  with 
a  sigh,  and  straightened  his  bent  shoulders,  "  I  am 
already  an  old  man,  and  if  I  would  see  the  sacred  oil 
on  the  lad's  head  before  I  go  hence  there  are  no  days 
to  lose.  Farewell,  woman  ;  busy  thyself  with  thy 
prayers,  and  haply  God  will  regard  thy  petition  ;  for 
so  doth  the  Almighty  with  wondrous  graciousness 
condescend  toward  the  humblest  of  his  creatures." 

With  these  parting  words  the  good  rabbi  went 
his  way ;  and  if  vague  thoughts  of  a  tranquil  old 
age,  soothed  and  comforted  by  the  gentle  ministra- 
tions of  a  beautiful  woman  went  with  him,  it  was 
perhaps  not  to  be  wondered  at.  But  Ben  Huna 
had  occupied  himself  too  long  with  the  happiness 
of  other  people  to  think  very  persistently  of  his 
own,  and  presently  the  unaccustomed  thoughts 
took  flight,  like  a  flock  of  startled  doves,  before  the 
prosaic  arrangements  necessary  for  a  long  journey  ; 
for  he  had  found  that  in  order  to  compass  his  ends 
he  must  travel  into  far-distant  cities. 

As  for  Rachel,  she  did  as  she  was  bid  ;  and  truly, 
if  the  yearning  petitions  of  a  mother's  heart  could 
have  taken  visible  form,  one  might  have  beheld  in 
those  days  a  cloud  of  prayers,  white  as  the  pas- 
sionate wings  of  angels,  ascending  into  the  blue 
heavens  which  bent  over  Aphtha.  In  doomed  Je- 
rusalem the  smoke  of  an  altar  fire  soon  to  be  ex- 
tinguished forever  also  rose,  black  and  ominous, 
like  the  breath  of  a  funeral  pyre.  Betwixt  the  two 
a  human  soul  wavered  in  agony. 


198  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

In  her  garden  at  close  of  day  Rachel  walked, 
musing,  dreaming,  praying.  In  imagination  she 
beheld  her  child,  clad  all  in  white,  like  an  angel, 
ministering  in  the  shining  courts  of  the  temple. 
Would  he  also  remember  her,  alone  in  the  old  gar- 
den, where  unchanged  the  stream  twinkled  pleas- 
antly over  its  pebbles  of  yellow  and  pink  and 
green,  and  the  blossoming  almond  boughs  wrapped 
the  moss-grown  thatch  in  a  bower  of  fragrant 
silence.  The  pigeons,  already  warmly  sheltered 
from  the  dew  beneath  the  overhanging  roof  of  the 
old  house,  cooed  drowsily  to  the  uneasy  nestlings 
beneath  their  wings  ;  while  athwart  the  gold  and 
purple  of  the  solemn  evening  sky,  the  swallows 
came  flitting  homeward  in  twos  and  threes. 

Below  on  the  mountain  road  which  ascended  from 
Bethlehem  in  long  loops  and  curves  like  the  loose- 
flung  coils  of  a  rope,  a  white  figure  climbed  steadily 
upward.  Rachel's  heart  leapt  to  her  lips  as  she 
watched  it ;  then  her  eyes  filled  with  patient  tears. 
"  He  will  not  come/'  she  said. 

The  tall  lilies,  standing  like  sentinels  beside  the 
worn  path,  poured  forth  their  gold  and  frankincense 
and  myrrh  with  tremulous  haste  as  one  brushed 
swiftly  past  them  in  the  twilight. 

"  Mother — oh  mother  !" 

The  uncounted  prayers,  white  as  the  wings  of 
angels — and  more  strong,  had  conquered.  Phan- 
nias  was  once  more  at  home. 


THE  LAST  VICTORY.  199 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

THE   LAST   VICTORY. 

IN  the  year  66 — reckoning  from  the  birth  of  the 
man  of  Galilee,  strange  things  and  terrible 
came  to  pass  in  the  Jewish  provinces.  Agrippa,  in 
his  double  character  of  patriot  and  diplomat,  en- 
deavored to  soothe  the  maddened  people,  using 
now  his  persuasive  eloquence,  now  detachments  of 
Roman  troops  to  gain  his  ends.  At  the  last  he 
abandoned  Israel  to  its  fate,  withdrawing  to  Caesa- 
rea,  from  which  stronghold  he  watched  subsequent 
events  with  the  cynical  composure  of  a  practiced 
gambler.  Berenice,  somewhat  sobered  by  her  nar- 
row escape  from  the  hands  of  the  mob  in  Jerusa- 
lem, accompanied  him. 

In  those  days  the  so-called  Zealots  threw 
wide  the  gates  of  Jerusalem  to  certain  wandering 
bands  of  predatory  vagabonds  which  infested  the 
countryside.  "  So  will  we  fight  fire  with  fire !" 
they  declared  ;  and  the  brigands — known  as  Sicars, 
because  of  the  cruel  curved  sword  which  they  wore 
concealed  beneath  their  garments,  flocked  into  the 
doomed  city  like  vultures,  gathering  to  some  ghastly 
feast  of  death.  In  the  space  of  a  month  they  had 
accomplished  a  frightful  work  of  destruction ;  the 


200  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

palaces  of  Agrippa  and  of  the  chief  priests  were  de- 
stroyed with  fire  ;  so  also  were  the  public  buildings 
containing  the  records  and  contracts  relating  to 
debts  and  debtors  :  there  were  now  neither  rich  nor 
poor  in  Jerusalem.  Antonia,  the  great  fortress  of  the 
Roman  garrison,  was  captured  by  the  mob  in  a 
single  night,  with  the  slaughter  of  the  guards  to  a 
man. 

Rumors  of  these  happenings  spread  into  all  the 
provinces ;  whereat  the  Jewish  nation  arose,  as  a 
fierce  beast  which  shakes  itself  after  sleep,  and  fell 
upon  the  dominant  Gentile  with  a  fury  born  of  long 
centuries  of  wrong  and  oppression. 

Cestius  Gallus,  the  proconsul  of  Syria,  was  held 
to  be  a  wise  and  prudent  man  ;  one  whose  actions 
were  not  to  be  accelerated  by  undue  urging  or  ve- 
hemence on  the  part  of  his  advisers.  "  Let  them 
slay  one  another  for  a  time,"  he  said,  with  an  air 
of  weighty  wisdom ;  "  'twill  prove  a  wholesome 
bloodletting,  which  may  serve  to  ease  these  turbu- 
lent peoples  of  their  disorders." 

Yet  Cestius  was  compelled  at  last  to  set  in  mo- 
tion the  ponderous  engines  of  law  and  war,  which, 
once  started,  work  out  blindly  the  will  of  Him  who 
sitteth — himself  unseen — upon  the  circle  of  the 
heavens.  Sending  detachments  of  Roman  troops 
into  the  Galilees,  and  adown  the  coast  as  far  as 
Joppa,  Cestius  departed  from  Antioch  with  the 
twelfth  legion  ;  finally  reassembling  all  his  forces 
at  Caesarea,  after  successfully  checking  a  number 


THE  LAST  VICTORY.  201 

of  threatening  insurrections  by  means  of  an  indis- 
criminate slaughter  of  all  Jews  who  fell  in  his  path. 

From  Caesarea  the  proconsul  advanced  toward 
Jerusalem,  by  way  of  the  rugged  pass  of  Beth- 
horon,  where,  nearly  fifteen  centuries  before,  Joshua 
had  defeated  the  five  confederate  kings  of  the  Amo- 
rites.  At  Gibeon,  a  little  further  on,  he  was  met  by 
a  certain  Sicar  chieftain,  known  as  Simon  Bar-Gio- 
ras,  and  repulsed  with  fury.  A  few  days  later  and 
the  Roman  forces  were  again  advancing  steadily 
upon  Jerusalem,  driving  the  inhabitants  of  the  coun- 
try before  them,  as  a  swarm  of  locusts  is  driven 
by  the  fierce  west  wind. 

Seven  furlongs  to  the  north  of  the  city,  the  Oli- 
vet range  stretches  in  a  long  level  plateau  flung 
from  its  central  bulk  like  the  limb  of  a  sleeping 
giant ;  upon  this  height,  known  in  Jerusalem  as 
Scopus,  the  triumphant  Romans  pitched  their  camp. 

"The  war  is  at  an  end,"  quoth  Cestius.  And 
he  was  the  more  certain  of  this  when  a  deputation 
composed  of  the  leading  men  of  the  city  visited 
him.  This  deputation  approached  the  Roman  camp 
with  the  greatest  secrecy,  stealing  out  from  the  city 
gates  by  night  with  the  connivance  of  the  gate- 
keepers. 

"  We  have  come  to  thee,  most  noble  Cestius," 
said  Ananus,  who  headed  the  embassy,  "  to  proffer 
our  submission,  and  to  profess  to  thee  our  entire 
loyalty  to  Rome.  What  has  already  happened  at 
the  hands  of  the  mob,  we  bewail  as  the  acts  of 


202  '  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

men  bereft  of  reason  and  drunk  with  blood  and 
rapine.  Behold,  we  ourselves  have  suffered  at  the 
hands  of  this  common  enemy  the  loss  of  all  that  is 
dear  to  us.  Now  therefore,  enter  the  city,  we  be- 
seech thee,  and  restore  to  our  distracted  nation  that 
peace  which  we  may  alone  enjoy  under  the  power- 
ful protection  of  Roman  law." 

This  saying  pleased  Cestius  ;  and  having  further 
received  from  these  men  a  pledge  that  the  gates  of 
the  city  should  be  opened  to  him  freely,  he  ad- 
vanced confidently,  only  to  meet  with  a  fierce  re- 
sistance from  the  army  of  Sicars  and  Zealots  who 
crowded  the  walls  with  a  deadly  fringe  of  archers. 
As  for  the  luckless  ambassadors,  all  save  Ananus 
had  been  caught  by  the  watchful  Zealots,  and  their 
dead  bodies  were  flung  piecemeal  from  the  gate 
towers  into  the  faces  of  the  advancing  Romans. 

At  this  Cestius,  being  more  prudent  than  wise, 
withdrew  to  his  camp  to  consider  the  matter  at  his 
leisure,  despite  the  entreaties  of  his  captains,  who 
saw  quite  clearly  that  the  city  .might  now  be  taken 
with  ease. 

Was  it  a  viewless  messenger  from  Jehovah  of 
Hosts,  vested  with  an  authority  which  could  not  be 
denied,  who  stood  at  the  side  of  the  proconsul, 
saying,  "  Stay  now  thy  hand  ;  the  harvest  is  not 
yet  ripe  for  the  sickle — the  grain  also  must  first  be 
separated  from  the  doomed  chaff."  Or  was  it  a 
certain  scroll,  received  that  day  from  his  friend  and 
kinsman,  Florus,  procurator  of  Judea.  "  Suffer 


THE  LAST  VICTORY.  203 

the  rival  swarms  to  destroy  one  another ;  after- 
ward we  will  divide  the  honey," — ran  the  enigmati- 
cal words  of  this  writing,  which  was  conveyed  to 
the  worthy  Cestius  by  a  fleet  messenger  from  Caes- 
area  Philippi.  Certain  it  is  that  Cestius  broke 
camp  and  fell  back  to  Gibeon  ;  and  from  thence, 
entangling  himself  with  his  cumbrous  trains  of 
baggage  among  the  wild  fastnesses  of  Bethhoron, 
he  fled  in  a  ruck  of  mad  confusion  adown  the 
rocky  valleys,  pursued  by  the  swarming  mountain- 
eers, who  slew  in  a  single  day  no  fewer  than  five 
thousand  of  the  flower  of  the  Roman  army. 

And  so  it  came  to  pass  that  in  Bethhoron,  where 
Israel  had  gained  its  first  great  victory,  it  also  won 
its  last.  The  conquerors  laden  with  spoils  returned 
to  Jerusalem,  dragging  with  them  the  heavy  engines 
of  war  which  the  Romans  had  abandoned  in  their 
flight.  That  night  the  inhabitants  of  the  holy  city 
gave  themselves  up  to  a  mad  carnival  of  joy ;  fires, 
kindled  from  the  saddles  of  the  slain  cavalry  and 
the  wooden  shields  of  the  foot-soldiers,  blazed 
fiercely  on  every  sacred  height  about  the  city  ;  tu- 
multuous voices  shouting  paeans  of  victory  sounded 
everywhere  in  the  darkness  ;  and  in  the  courts  of 
the  temple  crowds  of  worshipers,  delirious  with 
triumph,  bellowed  themselves  hoarse  in  honor  of 
Jehovah  of  Hosts. 

Overhead  in  the  soft  dark  of  the  spring  night 
blazed  a  mighty  sword  of  fire ;  the  people  had 
watched  its  gradual  appearance  in  their  familiar 


204  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

heavens  with  fear  and  dread,  but  now  they  flung 
their  arms  toward  the  ominous  visitant  with  exult- 
ant clamor.  "The  sword  of  triumph  !"  they  cried. 
"  The  sword  of  Israel  and  of  the  Lord  !" 

Wild  rumors  of  portent  and  miracle  flew  from 
mouth  to  mouth  ;  it  was  affirmed  that  during  the 
ninth  hour  of  the  night  before  the  victory  a  great 
light  had  shone  for  the  space  of  half  an  hour  about 
the  altar  of  the  Holy  Place.  Chariots  and  soldiers 
fighting  furiously  had  been  observed  in  the  clouds 
at  sunset.  The  Gate  Beautiful,  which  required  the 
strength  of  twenty  men  to  move,  had  of  itself  swung 
wide  at  the  hour  of  midnight,  as  though  to  wel- 
come the  incoming  hosts  of  a  triumphant  deity. 
Men  looked  one  another  in  the  face  with  wild  eyes, 
half  hoping  to  see  in  every  unfamiliar  countenance 
the  lineaments  of  the  Messiah.  Ay,  verily,  the 
time  was  ripe  ! 

In  certain  closed  and  quiet  houses  of  the  city  far 
other  scenes  were  taking  place  ;  in  some,  despairing 
women  wept  over  their  dead ;  in  others,  hasty 
preparations  for  flight  were  going  forward.  There 
was  no  longer  any  hope  of  a  reconciliation  with 
Rome  ;  to  escape  before  the  crashing  blow  of  doom 
should  fall  was  now  all  that  remained. 

In  a  narrow  and  crooked  street  of  the  Agra, 
numerous  heavily  draped  figures  sought  in  the  dark- 
ness a  shabby  and  ancient  house,  wherein  was  an 
upper  chamber  lighted  dimly  by  the  flaring  light  of 
a  cresset  fixed  to  the  blackened  rafters.  This  light 


THE  LAST  VICTORY.  205 

shone  brightly  on  the  bowed  head  of  an  aged  man 
who  stood  directly  beneath  its  glow. 

When  the  room  was  quite  filled  with  the  silent 
figures,  this  man  lifted  his  tremulous  hands  and 
looked  earnestly  into  the  white  faces  before  him. 
"My  children,"  he  said  tenderly,  "well-beloved 
and  faithful  in  the  belief  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
the  days  are  come  when  it  is  meet  to  stir  up  your 
pure  minds  by  way  of  remembrance.  Already  it 
is  known  to  some  of  you  how  that  our  Lord,  before 
he  was  crucified  spake  in  this  wise  to  the  multitude 
which  was  assembled  to  hear  him  in  the  temple. 
'  Behold/  he  said,  '  I  send  unto  you  prophets,  and 
wise  men,  and  scribes ;  and  some  of  them  ye  shall 
kill  and  crucify  ;  and  some  of  them  ye  shall  scourge 
in  your  synagogues,  and  persecute  them  from  city 
to  city ;  that  upon  you  may  come  all  the  righteous 
blood  shed  upon  the  earth,  from  the  blood  of 
righteous  Abel  unto  the  blood  of  Zacharias,  whom 
ye  slew  between  the  sanctuary  and  the  altar. 
Verily,  I  say  unto  you,  all  these  things  shall  come 
upon  this  generation.' 

"When  he  had  said  these  words,  our  Lord  looked 
around  about  upon  the  people,  and  upon  the  temple  ; 
and  to  those  of  us  who  stood  by,  it  seemed  that  the 
water  stood  in  his  eyes.  He  stretched  forth  his 
arms  with  longing  as  doth  a  mother  when  she 
yearneth  over  an  unruly  son.  '  O  Jerusalem,  Jeru- 
salem !'  he  cried,  'thou  that  killest  the  prophets, 
and  stonest  them  which  are  sent  unto  thce,  how 


206  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

often  would  I  have  gathered  thy  children  together 
— even  as  a  hen  gathereth  her  chickens  under  her 
wings,  and  ye  would  not !  Behold,  your  House  is 
left  unto  you  desolate  !  For  I  say  unto  you,  ye 
shall  not  see  me  henceforth,  till  ye  shall  say,  Blessed 
is  he  that  cometh  in  the  name  of  the  Lord.' 

"As  he  was  about  to  quit  the  temple,  certain  of 
us — marveling  at  the  glory  of  the  place  and  at  the 
words  which  he  had  spoken  concerning  it,  said  to 
him,  '  See,  Lord,  what  stones  and  what  buildings 
are  here !'  And  he  answered  :  'Verily,  I  say  unto 
you,  there  shall  not  be  left  here  one  stone  upon 
another  which  shall  not  be  cast  down.' 

"  In  that  hour  we  also  remembered  the  word  he 
had  spoken  on  the  day  of  his  triumph,  as  the  people 
brought  him  with  rejoicing  into  the  city,  spreading 
their  garments  before  him  in  the  way,  stripping  the 
branches  from  the  palms,  and  crying  out,  '  Blessed 
be  the  King  that  cometh  in  the  name  of  Jehovah  ! 
Peace  in  heaven  !  Glory  in  the  highest !'  When, 
from  the  heights  near  Jerusalem,  he  beheld  the 
city  and  the  temple,  shining  white  and  beautiful  in 
the  sun,  he  stopped  to  gaze  upon  it ;  and  they  that 
walked  by  his  side  heard  his  voice,  as  it  were  heavy 
with  tears,  saying,  '  If  thou  hadst  known — even 
thou,  at  least  in  this  thy  day — the  things  which  be- 
long to  thy  peace  !  But  now  they  are  hid  from 
thine  eyes.  For  the  days  shall  come  upon  thee, 
that  thine  enemies  shall  cast  a  trench  about  thee, 
and  compass  thee  round,  and  keep  thee  in  on  every 


THE  LAST  VICTORY.  207 

side,  and  shall  lay  thee  even  with  the  ground  and 
thy  children  within  thee  :  and  they  shall  not  leave 
in  thee  one  stone  upon  another,  because  thou 
knewest  not  the  time  of  thy  visitation  !' 

"  Two  days  before  the  passover,  in  the  which  he 
was  put  to  death,  our  Lord  walked  upon  the  Mount 
of  Olives,  where  also  he  loved  to  be  ;  the  lilies  of 
the  field  flourished  there  and  the  shadows  of  great 
olive  trees  made  a  cool  retreat  from  the  sun  ; — ye 
all  know  the  place,  and  love  it,  for  his  sake  who  is 
passed  from  our  midst.  In  this  place  we  who 
walked  with  him  at  all  times  came  to  him  privately, 
for  our  hearts  were  heavy  with  dread.  '  Tell  us,' 
we  said,  '  when  shall  these  things  be  ?  And  what 
shall  be  the  sign  of  thy  coming,  and  of  the  end  of 
the  world  ?' 

"Then  he  told  us  freely  of  all  things  which  were 
to  happen  in  the  days  when  he  should  no  longer  be 
with  us.  Of  these  many  have  already  been  ful- 
filled ;  wars  and  rumors  of  wars  have  vexed  our 
ears  ;  famines,  pestilences,  earthquakes  have  visited 
the  nations.  Of  them  who  loved  him,  have  many 
suffered  persecution  even  unto  death  ;  of  whom  also 
is  Stephen,  who  was  stoned  by  them  that  hate  our 
Lord — and  died  beholding  his  glory  ;  and  with  him 
a  great  multitude  of  the  saints  who  have  been 
scourged,  and  imprisoned  and  tortured  of  wild 
beasts — and  of  men,  less  merciful  than  beasts — 
both  here,  and  in  Judea,  and  in  all  the  corners  of 
the  earth  where  the  light  of  Christ  hath  shone. 


ao8  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

These  things  have  been  fulfilled  ;  and  now  behold, 
the  end  is  at  hand.  We  have  seen  the  abomina- 
tion of  desolation  stand  in  the  holy  place — for  by 
what  other  name  can  the  hosts  of  the  heathen  be 
called,  which  were  lately  encamped  on  Olivet,  made 
forever  holy  by  the  feet  of  Him  who  brought  unto 
us  good  tidings.  Now  let  them  which  be  in  Judaea 
flee  unto  the  mountains  !  For  the  great  tribula- 
tion is  at  hand  ;  such  as  was  not  since  the  beginning 
of  the  world  to  this  time — no,  nor  ever  shall  be ! 
Lo,  He  told  us  before  it  came  to  pass.  It  is  for  us 
to  obey !" 

The  deep  tones  of  the  speaker  ceased,  and  a  si- 
lence, broken  only  by  the  distant  shouts  of  the  mad 
revelers  in  the  streets  without,  settled  like  a  cloud 
upon  the  little  company  in  that  upper  room.  Then 
a  voice,  fresh  and  joyous  as  that  of  an  angel, 
chanted  softly, 

"  Jesus — Christ,  glad  Light  of  the  Highest ! 
Light  of  the  Father,  radiant,  holy  ! 
While  the  night  spreads  its  dim  mantle  o'er  us, 
We  worship  the  light  which  hath  shined — 
Which  hath  shined  in  the  darkness  !" 

One  by  one  other  voices  joined  the  single  glad 
thread  of  song.  Voices  of  women,  sweet  and  sad  ; 
voices  of  children,  shrill  and  bright  as  of  downy- 
throated  nestlings  ;  the  graver  voices  of  men  ;  all 
thrilling  with  life's  sorrows,  past,  present  or  to 
come. 


THE  LAST  VICTORY.  209 

"  Praise  to  thee,  Father !     Praise  to  thee,  Jesus  ! 
Worthy  art  thou  to  be  praised  of  the  holiest, 
Now  and  forever ;  on  all  days  and  eternally, 
Beloved  of  God,  who  givest  us  life  !" 

A  few  passionate  prayers  for  special  help  and 
guidance  in  this  hour  of  their  sore  need,  and  the 
meeting  was  at  an  end. 

Plans  for  the  future  were  simple  and  quickly  de- 
cided upon  by  these  followers  of  One  who  was  with 
them  alway,  and  upon  whose  word  they  leaned  as 
upon  a  strong  staff.  They  would  take  with  them 
no  useless  burden  of  worldly  goods ;  for  the  time 
pressed,  and  their  Lord  had  spoken  concerning  this 
also  :  "  Let  him  which  is  upon  the  housetop  not 
come  down  to  take  anything  out  of  his  house ; 
neither  let  him  which  is  in  the  field  return  back  to 
take  his  clothes."  Following  the  counsel  of 
James,  the  beloved  head  of  the  church  in  Jerusa- 
lem, they  settled  upon  a  small  town  in  the  moun- 
tains of  Gilead  as  the  divinely  appointed  refuge 
from  the  threatening  storm.  The  name  of  this 
place  was  Pella,  which  signifies  in  the  Hebrew 
tongue  hidden — secret — set  apart  ;  and  again,  de- 
liverance, or  escape. 

In  the  gray  of  the  morning  they  set  forth — all 
the  Christians  of  Jerusalem  who  were  able  to  travel. 
But  James,  and  with  him  Rufus,  a  proselyte,  and 
certain  women  who  were  bereft  of  home  and  family 
remained  behind.  "  There  are  the  aged  ones," 
said  the  bishop,  "  and  also  of  them  that  are  sick 

14 


210  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

not  a  few — which  must  perforce  tarry  ;  I  will  not 
leave  them  alone." 

After  he  had  sent  away  the  last  of  the  travelers 
with  prayers  and  blessings,  James  sat  in  the  upper 
chamber,  spent  and  worn,  yet  rejoicing  because  he 
knew  that  it  would  be  well  with  those  whom  his  soul 
loved.  In  spirit  he  went  out  with  the  wayfarers 
along  the  great  Roman  road,  soon  to  resound  to  the 
tread  of  avenging  hosts,  and  he  pictured  to  himself 
the  Lord's  flock,  folded  safe  in  the  green  pastures 
and  beside  the  still  waters  of  distant  Pella. 

As  he  mused  thus  in  the  chilly  dawn,  one  touched 
him  upon  the  shoulder ;  he  turned  to  look  into  the 
blushing  face  of  a  young  maid  who  held  before 
him  a  trencher  containing  meat  and  bread.  "  I 
pray  thee,  my  lord,"  she  said  timidly,  "  that  thou 
wilt  eat  and  refresh  thyself  after  the  long  night." 

To  the  dim  eyes  of  the  aged  bishop  she  looked 
no  less  than  a  ministering  angel,  for  the  dawn 
streaming  through  the  lattice  touched  her  bent 
head  with  heaven's  glory.  "Who  art  thou,  my 
daughter?"  he  asked  wondering. 

And  she — "  I  am  Merodah  ;  I  have  heard  thee 
speak  now  seven  times  of  the  crucified  Jesus ;  and 
truly,  I  love  both  him  and  thee." 

"But  thou  art  young  and  strong,  my  child,"  said 
the  bishop  tenderly.  "  Why  is  it  that  thou  hast  not 
departed  with  the  others  from  this  place  of  doom  ?" 

Merodah  looked  troubled.  "  I  cannot  leave  my 
father,"  she  said  simply. 


IN  APHTHA.  211 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

IN   APHTHA. 

IN  the  towns  and  cities  of  Judgea,  news  of  the 
splendid  victory  over  Cestius  aroused  the 
wildest  enthusiasm.  Public  thanksgivings  were 
held  in  all  the  synagogues  ;  while  in  the  humblest 
cottages,  feasting,  singing  and  dancing  went  for- 
ward right  merrily.  It  was  positively  affirmed  that 
the  whole  Roman  army  had  been  destroyed  ;  that 
the  resistless  hosts  of  heaven  had  been  seen  visibly 
descending  from  the  clouds,  and  pursuing  the  flying 
cohorts  with  swords  and  banners  of  fire.  The  days 
of  the  Messiah  were  surely  at  hand,  and  there  re- 
mained now  only  the  consummation  of  the  glorious 
promises  so  long  -held  out  by  sage  and  prophet. 
The  vague  reports  of  the  landing  of  Roman  legions 
at  Ptolemais  aroused  no  alarm  in  the  minds  of  the 
deluded  people. 

"  Our  God  is  able  to  overthrow  the  hosts  of  the 
idolaters,"  they  said  boastfully,  "even  as  when 
Sennacherib,  King  of  the  Assyrians,  set  himself 
against  Jerusalem,  and  the  angel  of  the  Lord  went 
out  at  midnight  through  his  camp  and  smote  of  the 
Assyrians  an  hundred,  fourscore  and  five  thousand, 
that  they  died." 


212  THE  CEOSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

Certain  of  their  number,  whose  eyes  were  not 
entirely  blinded,  called  urgently  upon  the  people 
everywhere  to  arm  themselves ;  to  make  strong 
their  walled  cities  ;  to  fortify  the  mountain  passes  ; 
to  gather  up  their  harvests  and  bestow  them  in 
places  of  safety.  But  to  these  last  futile  words  of 
warning  the  doomed  nation  paid  no  heed.  When 
the  towns  of  Galilee  began  one  by  one  to  fall  be- 
fore the  fierce  attacks  of  the  Romans  under  Vespa- 
sian, the  inhabitants  of  Judea  only  hugged  their 
delusion  the  closer.  Many  of  them,  it  is  true,  ter- 
rified by  the  lawless  deeds  of  the  Zealots,  aban- 
doned their  homes  and  set  their  faces  toward  Jeru- 
salem with  their  wives  and  their  little  ones.  "  Be- 
hold, in  Jerusalem  we  shall  be  safe,"  they  said, 
"  and  in  the  city  of  Zion  shall  we  eat  the  fat  of  the 
Gentiles." 

In  quiet  Aphtha,  people  still  sowed  their  crops 
and  harvested  them ;  observed  the  times  and  sea- 
sons of  the  moon ;  ate  and  drank  merrily  at  feasts 
and  danced  at  vintage,  as  in  the  old  days.  Galilee 
with  the  avenging  Romans  was  far  away  ;  and  Jeru- 
salem, hid  among  its  sacred  hills,  gave  forth  no  dis- 
quieting token  of  the  fire  of  civil  warfare  which  de- 
voured it.  Now  and  again  a  traveling  merchant 
would  startle  the  idle  peasants  who  hung  about  the 
village  inn  with  wild  tales  of  the  Zealots,  who  had 
entrenched  themselves  in  the  courts  of  the  temple  as 
in  a  fortress  ;  while  below  in  the  defenceless  Agra 
swarmed  the  dissolute  soldiers  of  John  of  Gischala. 


.LV  APHTHA.  213 

Strange  tales  indeed  to  tell  of  the  City  of  Solem- 
nities. The  children  laughed  with  witless  delight 
to  hear  how  these  rioters  paraded  themselves  by 
night  in  the  garb  of  women,  their  faces  painted 
scarlet,  their  touseled  heads  decked  with  rich  head- 
dresses and  jewels.  But  their  elders  frowned  un- 
easily when  their  informant  whispered  of  the  bloody 
deeds  of  these  fantastic  marauders. 

"The  priests  should  not  allow  these  unlawful 
things,"  they  said  with  indignation. 

"  Moses  is  no  longer  spoken  of  in  Jerusalem," 
was  the  ominous  answer  ;  "  as  for  the  priests,  they 
also  have  become  warriors." 

During  these  months  Phannias  remained  in  the 
house  of  his  mother.  After  the  first  outburst  of 
love  and  joy  with  which  she  had  received  him,  he 
had  said  little  of  his  experiences  in  the  temple.  "  I 
have  broken  my  vow,"  he  had  cried  despairingly, 
on  that  night  of  his  return.  But  when  on  the  fol- 
lowing day  Rachel  had  begged  him  to  take  counsel 
with  the  ruler  of  the  synagogue  and  with  the  Bat- 
lanin,  he  refused  in  a  tone  which  silenced  her. 

"  I  will  have  none  of  them,"  he  said  fiercely. 
"  Nor  will  I  again  become  a  Nazarite." 

And  Rachel,  bethinking  herself  that  it  was  she 
who  had  bound  him,  forbore  to  urge  the  matter. 

On  the  third  day  after  his  home-coming,  the 
ruler  of  the  synagogue  and  the  ten  Batlanin  visited 
the  widow.  They  had  heard  of  the  young  Naza- 
rite's  rejection  at  the  hands  of  the  priesthood,  and 


214  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

were  full  of  curiosity  to  see  how  he  bore  himself. 
"  'Tis  in  accordance  with  the  law  of  Moses  and  the 
will  of  Jehovah,"  said  the  ruler  of  the  synagogue 
piously,  staring  with  hard,  unwinking  eyes  into  the 
young  man's  gloomy  face.  Phannias  returned  the 
look  haughtily ;  but  he  made  no  reply. 

"Thou  art  still  a  Nazarite — God  be  praised!" 
quoth  another,  "and  canst  give  thy  life  to  the 
blessed  study  of  the  Talmud  and  Mishna." 

"  I  am  not  a  Nazarite,"  said  Phannias.  "  Nor 
will  I  give  my  life  to  the  study  of  what  is  useless 
and  unmeaning." 

Whereat  these  righteous  representatives  of  the 
law  cried  out  as  one  man,  "Apostate  !  The  devil 
hath  seized  upon  thee  for  his  own  !"  After  this 
they  troubled  him  no  more,  though  there  was  talk 
for  a  space  of  scourging  his  body  at  the  door  of 
the  synagogue,  that  haply  he  might  be  purged  of 
the  evil  spirit  which  had  possessed  him.  Yet  be- 
cause of  his  great  stature  there  was  no  man  of 
them  all  who  durst  undertake  the  task. 

As  for  the  fallen  Nazarite,  at  times  he  worked 
mightily  in  his  mother's  vineyard,  performing  with 
ease  in  a  single  day  labor  upon  which  the  slow- 
witted  peasants  would  have  spent  a  week.  At 
other  times  he  disappeared  from  the  village,  leav- 
ing home  with  no  word  of  warning,  and  reappear- 
ing as  suddenly.  Once,  after  an  absence  of  thrice 
seven  days  he  returned,  exhausted  and  scarce  able 
to  speak,  the  reason  for  which  appeared  in  a 


IN  APHTHA.  215 

ghastly  wound  beneath  his  tunic,  which  he  reluc- 
tantly allowed  his  mother  to  dress. 

"  Oh,  my  son,"  wailed  Rachel,  in  an  agony  of 
helpless  love  and  sorrow,  "where  hast  thou  been? 
What  if  thou  hadst  fallen  in  some  desert  spot  with 
none  to  help  thee  ?" 

"The  ravens  pluck  the  flesh  from  thrice  ten 
thousand  bodies  of  men  slain  in  battle,"  answered 
Phannias  gloomily.  "  I  am  but  one  man,  and 
hateful  in  the  sight  of  Jehovah." 

Rachel  caught  eagerly  at  the  last  word.  "  Jeho- 
vah is  very  merciful,"  she  said  timidly;  "surely 
thou  hast  not  forgotten  how  thou  wast  cleansed  in 
the  temple  and  restored " 

Phannias  broke  away  from  the  gentle  hands  with 
a  harsh  laugh.  "  Cleansed  !"  he  repeated.  "  Can 
a  flock  of  vultures  whose  talons  reek  with  the  blood 
of  holy  men  cleanse  one  who  hath  sinned  ?"  He 
turned  suddenly  and  fixed  his  burning  eyes  upon 
his  mother's  white  face.  "  Mother — mother  !"  he 
cried,  "  there  is  no  longer  any  way  of  cleansing. 
There  is  nothing  but  death — death  ! — Look  you," 
he  continued,  after  a  long  silence  which  Rachel 
did  not  venture  to  break,  "  I  have  visited  every 
place  where  I  might  find  them  that  could  tell  me 
of  the  man,  Jesus  of  Nazareth. — I  swore  to  do  this 
thing ;  for  myself,  I  swore  it.  Mother,  what  if  it 
be  true  !  The  Messiah — rejected — crucified.  The 
blood  of  the  Promised  on  the  head  of  Israel !  My 
God,  if  it  be  true  !" 


216  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

After  this  for  the  space  of  a  month  Phannias  re- 
mained quietly  at  home  ;  during  these  days  he  was 
more  than  ordinarily  gentle  to  his  mother,  whose 
bitterness  of  soul  he  divined,  but  could  not  com- 
fort. If  he  knew  that  she  spent  her  days  in  prayer, 
and  her  nights  in  secret  weeping  and  humiliation 
before  the  God  who  seemed  so  very  far  away,  he 
gave  no  sign.  For  himself  he  no  longer  prayed  ; 
the  grand  religion  of  his  fathers  appeared  in  his 
eyes  no  better  than  a  loathsome  corpse,  from  whose 
ghastly  features  the  cerecloth  had  fallen  away ; 
while  the  mysterious  ecstatic  joy  of  the  believers 
in  the  crucified  Nazarene  seemed  a  strange  mad- 
ness upon  which  he  looked  with  cold  dislike. 
"  If  the  Messiah  has  come,"  he  groaned  within  his 
darkened  soul,  "then  is  the  end  of  all  things  at 
hand." 

He  hated  and  feared  himself  the  more  because, 
believing  this,  he  could  yet  spend  long  feverish 
hours  dreaming  of  the  fair  false  princess,  who  had 
made  him  the  plaything  of  an  idle  moment,  to 
spurn  him  as  one  spurns  a  dog  whose  fantastic 
gambols  no  longer  amuse.  A  thousand  times  the 
mad  blood  leaped  to  his  brain  as  he  recalled  her 
face,  splendid  as  some  passionate  rose,  dew- 
drenched  and  sun-flamed.  "She  loved  me!"  he 
cried,  forgetting  all  but  the  baleful  radiance  of  her 
eyes  as  she  bent  toward  him,  whispering,  "  For 
love's  sake,  my  Phannias." 

Once,  as  he  passed  on  one  of  his  wild  journeys 


IN  APHTHA.  217 

through  the  mountains,  he  came  upon  a  group  of 
refugees,  who  told  him  many  things  that  had  taken 
place  in  the  world.  "  Nero  is  dead ;  Otho  is  dead ; 
Vitellius  is  dead.  The  legions  have  declared  Ves- 
pasian emperor,"  they  said.  Then  perceiving  that 
he  cared  nothing  for  the  information,  they  fell  to 
talking  among  themselves  of  the  slaughters  in  Gal- 
ilee, and  of  the  towns  in  Judaea  which  yet  remained 
to  be  conquered. 

After  a  little  one  made  mention  of  Berenice,  af- 
firming that  she  had  visited  the  camp  of  the  Roman 
conquerors,  that  she  might,  at  the  last,  save  Jeru- 
salem and  the  temple. 

Whereat  another —  "  The  woman  hath  cast  her 
gilded  web  about  the  son  of  Vespasian  that  she 
may  please  herself;  for  Jerusalem  and  the  temple 
she  cares  no  more  than  for  her  former  lovers — who 
are  legion."  With  that  he  laughed  aloud  and 
called  the  princess  a  vile  name. 

The  word  was  his  last,  for  Phannias  sprang  upon 
him  like  a  wild  beast.  "Liar!"  he  shrieked,  and 
choked  the  soul  from  the  man's  lips.  The  others 
drew  their  weapons ;  but  in  the  end  Phannias 
rushed  away  into  the  hills,  leaving  all  three  behind, 
a  silent  company. 

If  a  man  lose  his  faith  in  God  and  in  woman  on 
one  and  the  same  day,  that  day  becomes  a  day  of 
doom.  But  Phannias  yet  believed  in  one  woman  ; 
that  woman  clung  to  him  with  one  hand  and  to 
God  with  the  other ;  and  so  although  his  soul 


218  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

hung  over  the  pit  that  has  not  been  sounded  of 
men  or  angels  it  could  not  well  fall  lower. 

On  a  day  in  lyar,  the  bloom  month,  Phannias 
labored  in  the  terraced  steeps  of  the  vineyard,  his 
strong  brown  shoulders  glistening  in  the  sun  as 
they  rose  and  fell  with  the  rhythmic  motion  of  the 
spade.  Warm  gusts  of  fragrance,  exhaling  from 
the  new  leaves  and  blossoms  of  the  vines,  mingled 
with  the  potent  smell  of  the  freshly-dug  earth. 
Phannias  drew  in  long  breaths  of  it  and  was  con- 
scious of  a  primal  gladness  stirring  in  his  soul. 
Over  the  roof  of  his  mother's  cottage  the  almond 
trees  billowed  against  the  sky  like  nearer  clouds 
of  pink  and  white  ;  they  were  alive  with  bees  whose 
loud  joyous  humming  filled  the  silences  betwixt 
bird  songs. 

Below  on  the  steep  path  which  led  from  Beth- 
lehem there  toiled  a  bent  figure,  which  Phannias 
knew.  His  first  impulse  was  to  throw  down  his 
spade  and  run  to  meet  the  wayfarer ;  his  next  was 
to  hide  himself.  In  the  end  he  did  neither,  but 
continued  stolidly  at  his  digging. 

After  a  time  he  heard  his  mother's  voice ;  she 
was  calling  him,  a  note  of  gladness  in  her  tones 
which  Phannias  resented.  "  She  thinks  that  I  will 
obey  him,"  he  muttered,  with  a  savage  thrust  of 
the  spade;  "but  I  am  no  longer  a  child."  He 
affected  not  to  hear  the  summons,  turning  his  back 
upon  the  cottage,  and  busying  himself  blindly  with 
the  topmost  row  of  vines  ;  but  he  must  needs  ac- 


Ztf  APHTHA.  219 

knowledge  the  authoritative  touch  upon  his  shoul- 
der, with  which  Ben  Huna  presently  announced 
himself. 

Phannias  looked  up,  his  black  brows  meeting 
over  stormy  eyes  ;  he  was  prepared  to  face  right- 
eous wrath,  godly  sorrow,  and  a  long  dissertation 
on  the  law ;  but  in  the  eyes  that  met  his  own  he 
read  only  gladness  and  love — love  unutterable,  yet 
full  of  a  strange  regret. 

He  opened  his  lips  to  speak,  but  Ben  Huna 
stretched  out  his  arms  with  a  great  cry,  "  My  son 
— my  son  !  Thanks  be  unto  Jehovah  and  unto 
our  Lord  and  Saviour,  Jesus  Christ,  who  hath  heard 
my  prayer  and  hath  preserved  me  alive  till  I  should 
undo  the  mischief  I  have  done  ! — But  come,  let  us 
descend  into  the  garden ;  I  have  much  to  say  to 
thee — and  to  Rachel,  thy  mother." 

Phannias  threw  down  his  spade  and  followed  his 
old  master  with  a  curling  lip. 

"  Thou  wast  right,  my  son  Phannias,"  began 
Ben  Huna,  when  all  three  were  seated  in  the  thick 
shadow  of  the  fig  tree.  "  Thou  wast  right,  and  I — 
blind  that  I  was — forced  thee  into  the  hoary  paths 
of  error,  despite  thy  clearer  vision.  Look  you,  I 
have  traveled  far  since  last  I  saw  you,  and  this 
much  have  I  learned  by  the  grace  of  God.  Jesus 
of  Nazareth,  born  in  the  khan  of  Bethlehem  yonder, 
was  the  Messiah  of  Israel !"  The  old  man  spoke 
these  words  with  a  solemn  joy  that  did  not  escape 
the  watchful  eyes  of  Phannias.  He  had  seen  this 


220  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

look  upon  many  faces ;  he  had  not  ceased  to  won- 
der at  it.  "  If  it  be  true,"  he  said  within  himself, 
"  why  rejoice  ?" 

"  In  Ephesus,"  continued  Ben  Huna,  after  a 
silence,  during  which  he  seemed,  in  his  old  wise 
fashion,  to  be  searching  among  his  thronging 
thoughts  for  the  best  and  easiest  to  be  compre- 
hended,— "  in  Ephesus,  I  fell  in  with  a  man  called 
John  ;  he  was  an  apostle  of  Jesus ;  that  is  to  say, 
one  appointed  by  the  Christ  to  be  his  companion 
during  his  earth  life  and  a  shepherd  of  his  flock 
after  he  was  forced  to  leave  them.  This  holy  man 
told  me  all  the  story  of  the  blessed  life  in  Beth- 
lehem— in  Nazareth — in  Capernaum  and  in  all  the 
places  through  which  the  Master  traveled,  healing 
and  teaching  the  people.  As  much  of  this  as  I 
was  able  I  have  written  down. — See,  here  are  the 
parchments ;  thou  shalt  help  me,  my  son,  to  put 
them  in  order.  Ah,  the  blessed  life — the  blessed 
death  !" 

"The  man  died  upon  the  cross,"  said  Phannias 
gloomily.  "  What  blessing  can  come  from  that 
which  is  accursed  ?  If  it  be  true  that  the  Nazarene 
was  the  Messiah,  there  can  be  nothing  in  that 
truth  save  death  and  ruin  for  Israel.  For  myself  I 
will  not  believe  it." 

Ben  Huna  turned  his  mild  eyes  upon  the  young 
man  with  a  look  of  dismay  and  sorrow.  "Alas  !" 
he  said,  as  if  to  himself — or  to  another  close  at 
hand,  "  I  did  my  terrible  work  too  well." 


IN  APHTHA.  221 

"Thou  didst  it?"  cried  Phannias,  shaking  his 
broad  shoulders  impatiently.  "  Thou  ? — Nay,  I  am 
no  longer  a  child — a  weakling,  to  believe  blindly 
what  I  am  told.  Look  you,  rabbi,  I  also  have 
traveled,  and  have  talked  with  many  of  the  followers 
of  this  man.  They  all  harp  on  the  same  string,  and 
affect  a  mysterious  rapture  of  belief  in  the  dead  man, 
who  lives,  they  declare — though  they  cannot  prove 
it  to  the  eye  or  touch  of  any  man.  That  the  temple 
is  defiled  by  the  presence  of  evil  men  they  care 
nothing  ;  that  the  enemies  of  the  nation  threaten  to 
devour  it  like  a  swarm  of  locusts  they  care  nothing; 
that  the  laws  of  Moses  are  trodden  under  foot  by 
their  Gentile  proselytes  they  care  nothing.  Nay, 
they  declare  that  the  days  of  the  law  are  past ;  and 
they  sing  and  pray  to  the  crucified  One,  their  faces 
shining  as  if  anointed,  while  the  sword  hangs  over 
the  nation's  head !" 

Phannias  poured  forth  these  words  with  a  fever- 
ish energy  which  brooked  no  interruption  ;  and 
Ben  Huna,  comprehending  something  of  the  storm 
which  raged  in  the  young  man's  soul,  remained 
silent. 

Rachel  had  spoken  no  word,  but  sitting  apart 
wrapped  in  her  patient  sorrow  listened  with  won- 
der ;  now  she  started  to  her  feet  with  a  gesture 
of  alarm.  "There  is  tumult  in  the  village!"  she 
whispered,  her  dark  eyes  resting  with  a  mother's 
keen  prescience  upon  the  face  of  her  son. 

The  sound  of  swift  feet  and  tumultuous  voices 


222  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

penetrated  the  calm  peace  of  the  little  garden.  A 
man,  breathless,  exhausted  as  if  with  swift  running, 
hurled  himself  over  the  low  barriers  at  its  foot. 

"  I  seek  Phannias  Ben  Samuel,"  he  cried  impera- 
tively. "  In  the  name  of  the  holy  council  of  Zeal- 
ots, show  me  him  !" 

"What  wilt  thou  with  the  lad?"  began  Ben 
Huna,  extending  a  trembling  hand  as  if  to  protect 
his  beloved  pupil. 

Phannias  put  him  firmly  aside.  "  I  am  the  son 
of  Samuel,"  he  said  boldly.  "  What  is  it  thou  hast 
to  say  to  me  ?" 

The  man  gave  vent  to  aloud  shout  of  exultation. 
"  High  Priest  of  Israel,  elect  of  the  holy  council  of 
Jerusalem,  I  salute  thee  !"  he  cried,  and  threw  him- 
self upon  his  face  at  the  feet  of  Phannias. 


THE  HO  USE  DESOLATE.  223 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

THE    HOUSE    DESOLATE. 

AFTER  the  suicide  of  Nero,  three  emperors 
passed  in  rapid  succession  before  the  eyes 
of  the  Roman  people.  Driven  as  it  were  by  the 
relentless  furies,  Galba,  Otho  and  Vitellius  snatched 
at  the  royal  emblems  held  out  to  them  by  a  blind 
fate,  then  passed  onward  into  death  and  oblivion, 
with  but  a  shred  of  the  imperial  purple  clutched  in 
their  stark  fingers. 

During  this  pageant  of  royalty  and  death,  Vespa- 
sian, with  a  force  of  sixty  thousand  men,  was  stead- 
ily pursuing  his  task  of  reducing  the  rebellious  prov- 
inces in  Palestine.  The  Galilees  had  already 
fallen,  with  the  destruction  of  all  the  important 
cities,  whose  inhabitants  were  either  slaughtered 
outright  or  sold  into  slavery.  The  early  months  of 
the  year  68  beheld  the  victorious  legions  advancing 
into  Judaea,  crushing  in  their  progress  the  walled 
towns  one  after  another  with  dull,  monotonous,  re- 
sistless blows,  which  filled  the  unreasoning  popu- 
lace with  abject  terror.  To  the  cry,  "The  Romans 
are  coming !"  there  was  now  but  one  answer,  "Je- 
rusalem !" 

Jerusalem's  gates  stood  open  night  and  day,  like 


224  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

the  doors  of  a  furnace  making  ready  for  the  burn- 
ing ;  into  it  flocked  thousands  upon  thousands  of 
terrified  Jews,  men  and  women,  young  men  and 
maidens,  children  and  babes,  who  had  opened  their 
innocent  eyes  upon  evil  times.  Month  by  month 
the  net  was  being  drawn  closer  about  the  doomed 
city,  when  news  of  the  deposition  of  Vitellius 
reached  the  army.  The  legions  at  once  declared 
Vespasian  emperor ;  and  leaving  his  son,  Titus,  to 
reduce  the  Jewish  capital,  the  new-made  Caesar  set 
out  for  Rome.  So  there  was  respite  for  Jerusalem 
— a  year  of  respite.  But  the  city,  like  some  mad- 
man gorged  with  fiery  wine,  knew  it  not. 

In  those  days  there  were  strange  sights  to  be 
seen  in  the  temple — that  great  citadel  of  Jehovah, 
which  the  Jews  believed  not  less  eternal  than  the 
rock  on  which  it  stood.  The  marble  courts  and 
cloisters,  which  for  centuries  had  echoed  to  long- 
drawn  chant  and  stately  ritual,  and  over  which  the 
subtile  breath  of  incense  yet  lingered  like  a  prayer, 
now  resounded  to  the  tread  of  armed  men  and  to 
shouts  of  drunken  revelry. 

In  the  Court  of  the  Gentiles  some  fifteen  hundred 
of  the  Zealot  forces  were  encamped  ;  their  beds, 
cooking  utensils  and  rough  weapons,  mixed  with 
heaps  of  parti-colored  plunder,  blocked  the  superb 
cloister  of  Herod's  portico,  and  were  even  piled 
against  the  sacred  Chcl,  which  separated  this  great 
enclosure  from  the  holier  regions  within.  The 
Zealots  themselves,  half  drunk  and  gorged  with 


THE  HO  USE  DESOLA  TE.  225 

food,  lay  about  the  marble  floors,  playing  at  dice 
for  Roman  farthings  ;  or  swaggered  in  noisy  groups 
around  the  gates,  watching  the  trembling  worship- 
ers as  they  passed  in  and  out  For  with  character- 
istic tenacity  the  wretched  Jews  clung  to  the  empty 
show  of  worship  in  their  desolate  temple. 

Eleazar,  the  Zealot  chief,  loudly  proclaimed  him- 
self a  patriot ;  and  while  in  secret  he  cared  for  nothing 
but  power  and  riches  for  himself,  outwardly  he  as- 
sumed the  role  of  protector  of  the  pious  and  guard- 
ian of  the  temple.  "The  temple  is  mine,"  he  said 
within  himself;  "if  I  can  hold  it  I  shall  presently 
become  a  great  prince  ;  in  any  event  the  treasure  is 
in  my  hands." 

The  priests  and  Levites,  who  had  not  already 
fled  from  the  distracted  city,  stayed  for  the  most 
part  at  their  posts,  and,  under  the  doubtful  protec- 
tion of  Eleazar  and  his  band  of  Sicars,  carried  on  a 
ghastly  observance  of  religious  rites  and  ceremo- 
nies in  that  part  of  the  temple  left  to  their  use. 
Eleazar  and  his  captains  had  entrenched  themselves 
in  the  inner  chambers  of  the  Court  of  Israel,  hith- 
erto sacred  to  the  use  of  the  temple  officials  ;  to  the 
vigorous  protests  of  Ananus  and  others  of  the 
priestly  party  they  presented  the  unanswerable  ar- 
guments of  might  and  possession. 

It  pleased  the  Zealot  chief  at  this  time  to  assume 
the  state  of  prince  and  ruler,  which  indeed  he  had 
the  intent  to  become  at  no  distant  day.  In  token 
of  this  resolution  he  held  his  councils  of  war  in  the 

'5 


226  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

stately  chamber  of  the  Sanhedrim,  himself  occupy- 
ing the  central  seat  of  authority.  Before  him  ap- 
peared a  deputation  from  the  priests  bidding  him 
once  more,  in  the  name  of  Jehovah  of  Hosts  and 
of  Matthias  III.,  High  Priest  of  Israel,  to  withdraw 
his  soldiers  from  the  temple. 

"Jehovah  of  Hosts  is  on  my  side,"  quoth  Elea- 
zar,  staring  fixedly  into  the  face  of  the  spokesman. 
"  As  for  Matthias,  he  is  no  longer  high  priest.  I 
have  said  it." 

"By  what  authority — "  began  the  representa- 
tive of  the  priests,  trembling  with  rage. 

"  By  the  same  authority  with  which  I  now  com- 
mand thee  to  be  smitten  on  the  mouth,"  said 
Eleazar — and  motioned  to  one  of  his  henchmen, 
who  forthwith  smote  the  priest  across  the  face  with 
the  flat  of  his  sword.  "  Bind  the  fellow  and  set  him 
against  yonder  pillar,"  commanded  the  Zealot. 
"  He  shall  carry  back  news  to  Ananus." 

This  done,  he  ordered  the  list  of  priests  to  be 
fetched  .from  the  chamber  of  records,  and  the 
names  of  the  high-priestly  family  to  be  stricken 
from  the  number. 

"  Now  write  the  names  upon  tablets,"  he  said, 
" — every  name  upon  a  separate  tablet ;  cast  the 
tablets  into  the  great  vessel  of  the  drink-offering." 

When  this  was  done  after  many  hours  of  labor, 
Eleazar  bade  the  priest,  who  had  been  smitten  on 
the  mouth,  thrust  his  right  hand  into  the  vessel  of 
the  drink-offering  and  take  out  a  tablet. 


THE  HOUSE  DESOLATE.  227 

"I  will  not,"  he  cried.  "What  you  are  about 
to  do  is  foul  sacrilege  !" 

"Strike  off  the  right  hand  of  this  man,"  com- 
manded Eleazar.  And  when  this  was  done  forth- 
with, he  again  addressed  the  unfortunate  priest. 
"  Thrust  now  thy  left  hand  into  the  vessel  of  the 
drink-offering,  and  take  me  out  a  tablet" 

The  man  obeyed,  half  fainting.  Eleazar  took  the 
tablet.  "  I  read  here  the  name,  Phannias,  son  of 
Samuel,"  he  said.  "Therefore,  I,  Eleazar,  declare 
this  Phannias,  son  of  Samuel,  to  be  High  Priest. 
Fetch  him  hither." 

And  in  this  manner  was  the  last  high  priest  of 
Israel  chosen,  of  the  line  beginning  with  Aaron, 
and  descending  from  father  to  son  through  more 
than  seventeen  centuries. 

On  that  same  day  the  Zealots  fetched  Phannias, 
and  brought  him  to  the  temple. 

Here  is  the  man  from  Aphtha,  my  lord,"  they 
said,  bringing  their  prisoner  into  the  presence  of 
Eleazar. 

Eleazar  had  been  conferring  with  his  captains  as 
to  the  best  method  of  dislodging  the  priestly  party 
from  the  lower  city.  He  had,  for  the  moment,  for- 
gotten the  circumstance  of  the  morning.-  "  Who  is 
this  fellow  that  ye  thrust  into  my  presence  un- 
bidden ?"  he  said  scowling. 

"The  high  priest,  my  lord,  who  was  chosen  by 
lot." 

Eleazar  burst  into  a  loud  laugh.    "  By  the  double 


228  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT, 

veil !"  he  cried,  "  I  had  lost  sight  of  the  matter  in 
the  multitude  of  weightier  concerns.  But  the  game 
shall  be  played  out.  Here  you,  priest,  stand  forth." 

Phannias  wrenched  himself  loose  from  the  hands 
that  held  him.  "What  is  the  meaning  of  this  ?" 
he  demanded  in  a  low  voice,  fixing  his  eyes  upon 
the  Zealot. 

"A  pretty  fellow,  I  swear  it!"  said  Eleazar, 
turning  to  one  of  the  bystanders,  "  tall  and  well 
made  ;  the  high-priestly  baubles  will  set  well  upon 
those  broad  shoulders.  Go  fetch  them." 

Phannias  approached  a  step  nearer.  "  I  will 
have  an  answer,"  he  said.  "  These  men  have 
saluted  me  high  priest.  If  it  be  a  jest,  it  is  blas- 
phemy. Who  art  thou ;  and  by  what  authority 
hast  thou  done  this  thing?" 

Eleazar  stared  into  the  eyes  of  his  questioner  for 
a  full  minute  before  he  answered.  Then  his  face 
grew  grave  and  stern.  "  Thou  mayst  well  ask, 
priest,"  he  said;  "these  are  troublous  times,  and 
authority  belongs  to  him  who  can  best  wield  the 
sword.  Know  that  I  am  Eleazar,  chief  in  com- 
mand of  them  that  will  have  freedom  for  Israel, — 
freedom  from  the  galling  yoke  of  the  Gentiles  ; 
freedom  from  the  not  less  intolerable  oppression 
of  the  priests,  who  are  but  swollen  leeches  upon 
the  foul  body  of  Rome.  'Jerusalem  for  the  Jews!' 
is  our  watchword,  '  The  temple  for  the  people !' 
Thou  hast  been  legally  elected  high  priest  in  room 
of  a  thief  and  murderer.  Wilt  thou  be  high 


THE  HO  USE  DESOLA  TE.  229 

priest ;  or  shall  I  bid  them  loose  thee  in  the  rabble 
outside  the  city  walls  ?" 

Phannias  was  silent.  A  thousand  mad  thoughts 
surged  through  his  bewildered  brain.  "  Thou  a 
high  priest,  who  dost  no  longer  believe  in  the  re- 
ligion of  Israel?"  cried  his  accusing  conscience. 
"  Become  high  priest,"  whispered  his  ambition, 
"and  thou  becomest  a  prince — a  potentate,  who 
may  well  demand  in  marriage  the  sister  of  Agrippa !" 
Above  these  conflicting  thoughts  rang  the  sound- 
ing words  of  the  Zealot :  "Jerusalem  for  the  Jews  ! 
The  temple  for  the  people  !" 

Eleazar  was  watching  the  face  of  the  young  man 
with  a  frowning  brow.  No  one  knew  better  than 
he- the  farcical  nature  of  the  whole  affair.  It  made 
not  the  slightest  difference  to  the  Zealot  chief 
whether  or  not  there  was  a  high  priest;  but  it 
pleased  him  to  trample  under  foot  the  waning  au- 
thority of  the  priestly  party,  to  hurl,  as  it  were,  this 
last  insult  into  the  face  of  the  dying  hierarchy. 
Moreover,  he  thought  to  gain  popularity  with  the 
common  people  by  choosing  from  among  their 
number  this  figure-head  of  a  religion,  for  which 
he  cared  less  than  nothing.  "  Your  answer, 
priest,"  he  growled  impatiently.  "Wilt  thou  be 
high  priest  ;  or  wilt  thou  not?" 

"  I  will  be  high  priest,"  said  Phannias  slowly. 

"Done!"  cried  Eleazar,  bringing  his  hairy  fist 
down  upon  his  knee.  "  To  the  Court  of  the  Priests; 
the  matter  shall  be  finished." 


230  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

Under  a  strong  guard  of  Zealot  troops  the  new- 
made  head  of  the  temple  was  conducted  to  the  Hall 
of  Robes,  where  he  was  hastily  divested  of  his 
peasant's  garb  and  dressed  in  the  sacred  garments 
of  the  high  priest.  This  service  was  performed  by 
a  half  dozen  silent  Levites,  who  were  in  manifest 
terror  of  the  drawn  swords  of  the  Zealots.  Phan- 
nias  knew  little  enough  of  the  sacred  office,  but  he 
perceived  that  his  investiture  was  being  accom- 
plished with  none  of  the  ceremonial  prescribed  by 
law.  The  blood  rushed  to  his  face ;  he  set  his 
teeth  hard.  "  I  am  high  priest,"  he  said  within 
himself.  "  What  care  I  for  the  law  ?" 

"  Fetch  him  out,"  commanded  Eleazar  briefly. 
"  Let  him  show  himself  before  the  people." 

Phannias  heard  the  command ;  his  eyes  flashed 
fire.  "  Stand  aside,"  he  said  imperiously,  "  I  will 
go  forth  to  the  people." 

Eleazar  involuntarily  fell  back  before  the  impos- 
ing figure  of  priestly  authority  which  swept  toward 
him.  This  high  priest  was  but  a  puppet — a  toy — 
a  creature  of  straw,  which  he  himself  had  set  up  to 
be  the  wanton  sport  of  a  moment;  yet  this  "boorish 
peasant" — as  he  called  him  in  his  heart — "this 
ignorant  knave,"  who  comprehended  so  little  of  the 
blasphemous  farce  of  his  investiture  as  to  accept  it 
without  question,  presented  in  his  magnificent  robes 
a  picture  of  regal  grandeur,  which  awed  even  the 
coarse-minded  Zealot.  The  bells  and  pomegran- 
ates which  bordered  the  sacred  robe  clashed  mu- 


THE  HO  USE  DESOLA  TE.  231 

sically  ;  the  breastplate  flashed  a  twelvefold  gleam 
of  dazzling  splendor,  as  Phannias  slowly  advanced 
down  the  hall  betwixt  the  triple  rows  of  soldiers. 

Eleazar  suddenly  remembered  the  strange  legend 
of  the  Urim  and  Thummim — the  mystical  commu- 
nication of  God  with  his  people  by  means  of  the 
sacred  stones  of  the  breastplate.  What  did  those 
flaming  stones — each  graven  with  the  name  of  one 
of  the  tribes  of  Israel — signify  ?  He  followed 
dumbly,  while  the  new-made  high  priest  advanced 
toward  the  altar.  It  was  already  the  ninth  hour, 
the  time  of  the  daily  evening  sacrifice. 

A  double  line  of  priests  advanced  with  meas- 
ured steps  along  the  cloister  which  divided  the 
Court  of  Israel  from  the  Women's  Court ;  at  their 
head  walked  Ananus,  haughty  chief  of  the  high- 
priestly  family.  Looking  neither  to  the  left  nor 
the  right,  the  procession  swept  on  to  a  position 
directly  in  front  of  the  great  altar.  The  trumpets 
sounded  a  thrilling  blast ;  the  great  bell  of  the 
temple  clanged  heavily.  From  the  subterranean 
music  rooms  beneath  the  Steps  of  Degrees  the 
Levites  emerged,  a  maze  of  snowy  figures,  chant- 
ing the  evening  hymn  in  deep  resonant  voices. 

Phannias  stood  alone,  his  head  bowed,  his  hands 
clenched  beneath  the  gorgeous  robes.  The  hostile 
glances  of  the  priests  lashed  him  like  the  blows  of  a 
scourge;  thelowmurmur  ofthepeoplesounded  in  his 
ears  a  thunder  of  impending  doom.  A  High  Priest — 
but  pilloried  before  the  mocking  eyes  of  a  nation ! 


*3*  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

Two  Levites  now  approached  the  place  in  which 
he  stood,  preceded  by  a  priest,  who  bore  the  golden 
vessel  of  incense. 

On  a  sudden  Phannias  remembered  the  law  con- 
cerning this  offering.  "  If  there  be  one  priest  in  the 
house  of  his  Father,  who  hath  not  yet  burned  in- 
cense in  the  Holy  Place,  he  and  no  other  shall  offer 
the  sweet-smelling  savor  to  Jehovah  of  Hosts,  at 
the  time  of  the  evening  sacrifice." 

He  fixed  a  compelling  gaze  upon  the  priest  who 
was  about  to  pass  him  without  obeisance.  "  Give 
me  the  vessel  of  incense,"  he  said  in  a  loud  voice, 
" — and  the  censer ;  it  is  the  law." 

The  priest  stared  at  the  resplendent  figure  with 
cold,  unseeing  eyes  and  passed  by  without  pause. 

"Stop  !"  cried  a  raucous  voice  from  among  the 
Zealot  soldiers,  who  stood  in  serried  ranks  in  the 
Women's  Court.  "  Obey  your  high  priest !'  A 
low,  ominous  clash  of  swords  followed  the  words. 

The  priest  turned  white  to  the  lips  ;  he  stood  still 
in  his  place,  his  venomous  eyes  fastened  upon 
the  face  of  Phannias.  "Wilt  thou  profane  the 
Holy  Place,  who  art  both  unsanctified  and  un- 
clean ?"  he  demanded  in  a  hissing  whisper. 

Phannias  looked  full  into  the  eyes  of  his  ques- 
tioner ;  he  knew  him  for  the  man  whom  he  had  seen 
in  the  subterranean  chambers  of  the  temple  on  the 
terrible  day  of  his  novitiate.  "  If  I  be  unsanctified 
and  unclean,"  he  answered  dully,  as  one  in  a  dream 
of  anguish,  "  I  am  neither  thief  nor  murderer." 


THE  HOUSE  DESOLATE.  233 

Mechanically  he  received  the  golden  vessel  of 
incense  and  the  censer  of  live  coals  from  the  hand 
of  the  man  who  would  have  slain  him,  scarce  hear- 
ing the  frightful  words  of  anathema  breathed  in  his 
ear.  Still  in  a  dream  of  anguish,  he  ascended  the 
marble  steps  of  the  sanctuary.  A  number  of 
priests  who  guarded  the  entrance  made  as  though 
they  would  have  seized  him  ;  but  he  swept  by  them 
— passed  within  the  double  curtains  of  Babylonian 
byssus,  gay  with  broideries  of  gold  and  purple  and 
scarlet,  and  stood,  at  last,  alone  in  the  Holy  Place. 


234  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

THE    LAST    HIGH    PRIEST. 

ALONE  in  the  Holy  Place  !  It  was  as  though 
he  had  left  his  mortal  body  in  the  world 
without  and  had  stepped,  a  naked  soul,  into  the 
presence  of  the  King  of  kings.  All  the  doubt 
and  anguish,  all  the  fever  and  turmoil  of  the  past 
months  fell  away,  even  as  the  rent  mantle  of  the 
flesh  drops  from  a  liberated  spirit.  The  twilight 
and  silence  of  the  great  vaulted  chamber  descended 
with  exquisite  soothing  upon  his  tortured  heart. 
He  fixed  his  eyes  upon  the  curtained  space  at  the 
further  end  of  the  hall — the  Holy  of  Holies.  God 
was  there. 

He  fell  upon  his  knees  in  a  passion  of  weeping — 
such  blessed  weeping  as  shakes  the  child,  who 
casts  himself  upon  the  breast  of  his  mother,  to  pour 
out  in  that  sacred  refuge  all  his  sorrow  and  fear. 
"  Have  mercy  upon  me,  who  am  a  sinful  man  !"  he 
whispered  brokenly.  "Teach  me  the  truth  !  Hast 
thou  sent  the  promised  Deliverer ;  and  has  Israel 
rejected — slain  him  ?  God  of  my  fathers,  show  me 
the  truth!" 

Then  it  seemed  to  the  last  high  priest  of  Israel 
that  one  touched  him  gently  upon  the  shoulder.  He 


THE  LAST  HIGH  PRIEST.  235 

raised  his  eyes,  hot  with  tears,  and  beljold,  the  vast 
curtain  of  the  veiled  place  had  vanished  ;  in  its  room 
he  looked  into  a  wild,  desolate  sky,  black  with 
hurrying  clouds,  thrust  through  and  through  with 
darts  of  livid  lightning.  Against  this  background 
of  cloud  and  fire  loomed  a  terrible  shape — the 
shape  of  a  cross.  Upon  the  cross  hung  the  figure 
of  a  man.  Despite  the  darkness,  the  face  of  this 
man  shone  out  clear  and  distinct,  a  face  whereon 
God-love  and  mortal  anguish  struggled  for  the 
mastery  ;  then  the  mortal  vanished,  and  the  glory 
of  the  Eternal  settled  down  upon  it.  There  were 
voices  now — voices  of  the  prophets,  sad  and  yearn- 
ing :  "  The  assembly  of  the  wicked  have  closed  in 
upon  me ;  they  have  pierced  my  hands  and  my 
feet !"  "  Wounded  for  our  transgressions  ;  bruised 
for  our  iniquities  :"  "Taken  from  prison  and  from 
judgment,  who  shall  declare  his  generation  ;  he  was 
cut  off  out  of  the  land  of  the  living;  for  the  trans- 
gression of  my  people  was  he  stricken." 

Above  and  beyond  the  wailing  voices  sounded  a 
paean  of  triumph,  sweet  and  far-reaching — a  many- 
voiced  song  of  angels,  dropping — it  seemed — from 
infinite  heights  of  heaven  like  the  light  of  stars. 

"  Glory  to  God  in  the  highest ! 
On  earth  peace, — good- will  to  men  !" 

Then  on  a  sudden  the  veil  dropped  with  a  sound 
of  thunder,  and  the  voices  blent  in  awful  harmony  : 
"We  are  departing  hence  !" 


236  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

When  Phannias  came  to  himself,  he  beheld  once 
more  the  great  chamber  of  the  Holy  Place,  dim 
and  bare  save  for  the  seven-branched  candlestick, 
the  golden  table  of  shew-bread  and  the  altar  of 
incense.  Before  the  Holiest  Place  hung  the  double 
curtain  of  scarlet  and  purple  and  white — vast, 
motionless — veiling  emptiness.  Upon  the  floor  at 
his  side  lay  the  scattered  incense,  and  the  coals 
from  the  altar,  black  and  dead. 

He  arose  to  his  feet  and  passed  out  before  the 
eyes  of  the  waiting  congregation  ;  there  was  a  look 
upon  his  face  before  which  the  sneering  priests 
shrank  back  in  terror.  He  advanced  steadily  to 
the  space  before  the  altar  and  raised  his  arms  high 
above  his  head.  Instinctively  the  people  fell  upon 
their  faces,  awaiting  the  high-priestly  benediction. 
But  no  empty  syllables  of  blessing  fell  from  those 
white  lips.  "  Men  of  Israel,  ye  have  slain  your 
Messiah  !"  was  the  sentence  which  fell  from  them, 
each  word  distinct — terrible,  like  the  blows  of  a 
scourge.  "The  hope  of  Israel  hath  gone  out,  like 
a  lamp  that  is  quenched,  and  as  live  coals  that 
perish  on  the  altar !  Hear  now  the  word  of  the 
Lord  :  '  When  ye  fast  I  will  not  listen  to  your 
cry.  When  ye  offer  burnt  offering  and  an  obla- 
tion, I  will  not  accept  them.  I  will  consume  you 
by  the  sword,  and  by  famine,  and  by  pestilence ! 
Behold,  the  house  which  is  called  by  my  name  is 
become  a  den  of  robbers  in  your  eyes  !  I,  even  I, 
have  seen  it.  Behold,  there  shall  not  be  left  here 


THE  LAST  HIGH  PRIEST.  237 

one  stone  upon  another  that  shall  not  be  thrown 
down  !'  " 

There  was  silence  for  an  instant — such  silence  as 
stalks  majestic  before  the  presence  of  the  whirl- 
wind ;  then  a  long,  loud  wail  burst  from  a  woman's 
throat.  Phannias  beheld  a  surging  wave  of  furious 
faces,  which  rose  and  broke  shrieking  upon  a  fringe 
of  spears.  He  was  dragged  backward — downward  ; 
the  priestly  robes  were  torn  from  his  shoulders. 

"  Accursed  of  God  and  man — die.  Thrust  him 
through — quickly  !" 

Phannias  knew  the  voice  and  the  face,  black  with 
murderous  passion ;  a  mighty  strength  came  upon 
him ;  he  rent  his  assailant  with  his  naked  hands 
and  flung  his  limp  body  against  the  foot  of  the 
altar. 

"Well  done,  priest,"  cried  a  harsh  voice  at  his 
side.  "Take  the  sword — thou  wilt  need  it  — Shut 
both  gates  below  there !  So,  we  have  beat  them 
back  into  the  Court  of  the  Gentiles !  Now  slay 
every  priest  and  Levite  within  ;  the  knaves  will 
betray  us  else !" 

The  Zealot  chief  turned  upon  Phannias  with  an 
oath.  "  I  was  minded  to  slay  thee  also,  but  I  have 
spared  thec,  since  thou  hast  shown  thyself  an  honest 
enemy  to  these  whining  cowards.  Come,  off  with 
the  priestly  gauds,  or  I  cannot  save  thee  from  the 
swords  of  the  Sicars." 

With  his  own  hands  Eleazar  stripped  off  the 
breastplate  and  ephod,  casting  them  with  a  shud- 


238  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

dering  curse  upon  the  smouldering  fire  of  the 
altar.  "  They  will  be  wanted  no  more  if  what  thou 
saidst  be  true,"  he  growled.  "  But  why  saidst 
thou  it  ?  Thy  words  were  as  coals  of  fire  flung 
upon  chaff." 

Phannias  shook  his  head.  "  Nay,  I  know  not," 
he  said  dully. 

"  'Twas  the  stones  yonder ;  they  are  accursed  ! 
Look  you,  if  the  temple  be  no  longer  a  temple  it 
is  a  citadel  and  mine.  Go  now ;  guard  the  Gate 
Beautiful." 

Drawn  sword  in  hand,  Phannias  made  his  way 
through  the  Gate  of  Nicanor,  down  the  Steps  of 
Degrees,  slippery  with  blood  and  heaped  with  dead 
bodies,  into  the  Court  of  the  Women.  Frightful 
scenes  were  taking  place  here  ;  the  Zealot  soldiers 
had  beat  back  the  assault  of  the  people  led  by  the 
priests,  and  had  finally  succeeded  in  closing  the 
heavy  brazen  doors.  Now  they  were  carrying  out 
the  commands  of  their  chief,  hunting  down  and 
killing  without  mercy  the  wretched  priests  and  Le- 
vites  who  had  been  shut  into  the  sacred  enclosure. 
Cries  of  mercy,  shrieks,  curses,  execrations  arose 
from  the  cloistered  courts  and  chambers  where  the 
pursued  had  taken  a  last  vain  refuge. 

Phannias  beheld  with  horror  the  dead  bodies  of 
women  and  children  mixed  with  the  slain.  From 
under  one  of  the  great  treasure  chests  which  stood 
on  either  side  of  the  cloister,  a  baby  crawled, 
screaming  for  its  mother.  A  Sicar  reached  toward 


THE  LAST  HIGH  PRIEST.  239 

it  with  a  swoop  of  his  crooked  sword.  Phannias 
snatched  the  child  unscathed  from  beneath  the 
blade  and  darted  away  among  the  cloisters. 

"To  the  Gate  Beautiful!"  he  shouted.  "De- 
fend the  gate  !" 

A  band  of  soldiers  who  were  busy  breaking  open 
the  door  of  a  chamber  in  the  court  of  the  sacri- 
ficial wood  paused  at  sound  of  the  cry;  then  they 
abandoned  their  task  and  hurried  away. 

Phannias  stared  helplessly  at  the  burden  in  his 
arms  ;  the  child  looked  up  into  his  face  and  laughed 
aloud.  "  I  must  save  thee,  little  one,"  he  mur- 
mured, " — but  how?" 

He  looked  despairingly  about  him,  recognizing 
with  a  throb  of  gratitude  the  spot  where  he  had 
labored  with  his  hands  in  the  first  days  of  his  ser- 
vice in  the  temple.  "  Jachin  !"  he  called  aloud. 

A  faint  voice  answered  his  cry ;  then  the  head 
of  the  old  priest  was  thrust  cautiously  out  from  be- 
hind a  pile  of  knotted  sticks.  "  Praise  be  to  Jeho- 
vah, it  is  thou,  Nazarite  !  Come,  thou  art  a  lusty 
fellow  and  canst  protect  me.  If  they  are  gone  we 
will  get  us  down  to  a  place  of  safety  ;  I  know  the 
way." 

"  Take  thou  the  child — for  the  love  of  God,  and 
get  thee  down  !"  cried  Phannias,  and  rushed  away 
toward  the  gate.  He  had  now  but  one  desire,  and 
that  was  to  escape  from  the  desecrated  temple. 

Jachin  stared  at  the  babe,  which  again  wept  pit- 
eously.  "  By  the  stones  of  the  breastplate  !"  he 


240  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

muttered,  "  shall  I  endanger  my  life  for  a  crying 
brat  ?"  Turning  his  back  upon  the  child  he  plunged 
among  the  heaped-up  wood  of  the  sacrifices.  "  God 
of  the  sanctuary,  remember  thou  the  years  of  my 
faithful  service  !"  he  ejaculated,  making  obeisance 
toward  the  altar — and  disappeared  down  a  hidden 
stairway  into  the  depths. 

As  for  the  babe,  it  shortly  found  its  mother.  For 
the  innocent,  death  is  but  a  single  step  from  terror 
into  joy. 


THE  SHOPKEEPER  OF  TUE  AGRA.          241 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

THE   SHOPKEEPER   OF   THE   AGRA. 

THE  times  were  assuredly  evil ;  all  men  de- 
clared it ;  yet  in  spite  of  the  times — or  per- 
haps because  of  them,  Ezra  Ben  Ethan,  shrewd, 
cautious,  far-seeing,  was  doing  a  thriving  business. 
He  chuckled  to  himself  often  in  these  days,  and 
rubbed  his  dry  withered  palms  together  with  an  air 
of  stealthy  enjoyment.  There  had  been  a  time, 
and  that  not  many  years  back,  when  the  little  shop 
close  by  the  Old  Wall  had  been  of  the  humblest. 
Few  pilgrims  had  chosen  to  purchase  their  Pass- 
over bread  or  their  oil  cakes  for  the  meat-offering 
of  Ben  Ethan.  They  had  preferred  rather  to  lay 
in  their  supplies  of  these  commodities  on  the  tem- 
ple platform,  where  a  multitude  of  rich  and  pros- 
perous merchants  offered  a  dazzling  variety  of  sac- 
rificial goods ;  all  guaranteed  to  be  legally  clean, 
and  therefore  of  a  certainty  acceptable  to  that  Je- 
hovah of  Hosts  whose  shining  temple  looked  down 
in  solemn  grandeur  on  the  bustling  thoroughfares 
at  its  feet. 

Formerly  Ben  Ethan  had  never  passed  through 
these  rich  market  places  of  the  Agra  without  ex- 
periencing a  fierce  pang  of  envy.  He  hated  the 

16 


242  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

sleek  merchants  who  lolled  indolently  behind  their 
stalls,  scarce  troubling  themselves  to  cry  their 
goods  to  the  passers-by.  Times  were  changed  in- 
deed !  The  fierce  soldiers  of  the  Tyrant  and  the 
Zealot — as  John  of  Gischala  and  Eleazar  had  come 
to  be  called,  had  wasted  all  that  prosperous  district 
with  fire  and  the  sword.  The  sleek  merchants  had 
disappeared  to  a  man.  Some  had  fled  at  the  first 
outbreak  of  the  internecine  warfare  ;  others,  braver 
or  more  greedy  of  gain,  had  stuck  to  their  business, 
only  to  be  stripped  of  all  they  possessed  ;  and  later 
to  lie  unburied,  save  for  the  smoking  ruins  of  their 
houses. 

"Jehovah  is  just!"  ejaculated  Ben  Ethan,  piously 
rending  his  garments  in  token  of  his  grief  at  this 
disaster.  "  He  abaseth  the  proud  and  he  also  set- 
teth  up  the  humble  ;  blessed  be  his  holy  name  !" 

As  for  the  small  shabby  booth  near  the  gate 
Miphkad,  its  owner  took  good  care  that  there 
should  be  no  unseemly  display  to  tempt  the  cupid- 
ity of  the  soldiers  ;  a  paltry  basket  of  cakes,  a 
bottle  of  oil,  perchance ;  a  heap  of  mouldy  olives. 
"It  is  all  I  have,  patriots!"  he  would  cry,  lifting 
his  lean  shoulders  and  spreading  abroad  his  hands. 
"  All  that  I  have — Jehovah  be  my  witness  !  but 
such  as  it  is,  honored  defenders  of  Jerusalem,  you 
are  kindly  welcome  to  it !" 

And  the  marauders,  sleek  with  stolen  provender 
and  wine,  swore  with  maudlin  generosity  that  Ben 
Ethan  was  an  honest  man  and  should  not  be  dis- 


THE  SHOPKEEPER  OF  THE  AGRA.  243 

turbed  in  his  business.  After  a  time,  certain  of 
these  worthies  found  the  obscure  shop  a  convenient 
place  of  resort.  One  could  always  be  certain  of  a 
skin  of  good  wine  there,  and  the  baskets  of  wheaten 
cakes  were  never  empty.  Little  by  little  it  became 
also  the  custom  to  entrust  the  shopkeeper  with 
certain  valuable  bits  of  plunder;  which  indeed  a 
diligent  man  could  accumulate  with  such  ease  and 
rapidity  that  the  very  abundance  became  at  times 
a  matter  of  embarrassment.  It  is  certain  that  the 
owner  of  a  particularly  desirable  article  was  fre- 
quently forced  to  exchange  his  booty  for  a  dagger- 
thrust  in  the  back,  a  thing  which  no  man  coveted. 
Ben  Ethan  trembled  at  first  under  the  load  of 
his  new  eases  and  responsibilities.  It  was,  for  ex- 
ample, far  from  pleasant  for  a  law-observing  and 
orderly  Jew  to  be  forced  to  witness  the  killing  of  a 
man  in  his  very  presence  ;  and  this  happened  not 
infrequently  when  the  wine  was  strong  and  booty 
plenty.  But  there  are  two  sides  to  every  matter — 
if  one  will  but  take  the  trouble  to  reflect ;  and  no 
philosopher  of  them  all  knew  better  than  Ben  Ethan 
that  a  calamity  turned  inside  out  oftentimes  displays 
a  blessing.  He  was  therefore  not  slow  to  observe 
that  in  case  a  man  quitted  Jerusalem  thus  suddenly, 
neither  he  nor  another  ever  inquired  for  his  prop- 
erty. And  so  it  came  to  pass  that  he  shortly  found 
himself  the  undisputed  possessor  of  a  very  hand- 
some collection  of  silver  cups,  plates,  candlesticks, 
jewels,  chains,  and  the  like ;  all  of  which  he  be- 


244  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

stowed  for  safe  keeping  in  certain  excavations  under- 
neath his  house,  the  secrets  of  which  were  known 
to  no  other  but  himself. 

There  was  one  person  in  the  house  of  Ben  Ethan 
who  regarded  these  enlargements  of  his  interests 
with  undisguised  alarm  and  anxiety ;  this  person 
was  his  daughter,  Merodah. 

"Thou  art  a  \voman — which  is  to  say  a  fool !" 
observed  the  old  man  sententiously,  when  the  girl 
besought  him  with  tears  to  fly  the  distracted  city. 
"  Have  I  lived  in  poverty  all  my  days  to  turn  my 
back  upon  plenty  when  it  is  within  my  grasp? 
Get  thee  to  thy  spinning  and  hold  thy  chattering 
tongue." 

Later  he  presented  her  with  a  richly  embroidered 
robe,  which  a  soldier  had  flung  down  in  a  corner 
of  the  shop  and  forgotten.  But  Merodah,  observ- 
ing a  jagged  rent,  deeply  dyed  about  its  edges  in 
the  folds  which  had  lain  across  the  wearer's  breast, 
only  shrank  away  aghast,  her  dark  eyes  fixed  and 
staring. 

"  What  now,  woman  !"  cried  Ben  Ethan  angrily. 
"Art  thou  not  pleased  with  the  gift?  A  rent — eh  ? 
what  then ;  can  it  not  be  sewn  and  the  garment 
purified  ?  One  must  be  zealous  in  these  days  to 
keep  one's  accounts  straight  with  Jehovah  !" 

By  which  it  will  be  observed  that  Ben  Ethan  had 
by  no  means  forgotten  his  religion ;  indeed  his 
prayers,  oblations  and  vows  had  only  grown  more 
numerous  and  fervent  as  the  demands  upon  his 


THE  SHOPKEEPER  OF  THE  AGRA,  245 

piety  increased.  It  was  truly  a  difficult  task  for 
one  to  keep  himself  undefiled  and  walking  orderly 
after  the  law,  when  the  sluggish  current  in  the  gut- 
ters ran  foul  with  blood,  and  the  odor  of  corruption 
tainted  the  very  air  one  breathed ;  but  Ben  Ethan 
accomplished  it  to  his  satisfaction. 

"Jehovah  will  make  allowance  for  these  evil 
times,"  he  reflected,  recalling  with  gratification  the 
fact  that  King  David  and  his  soldiers  were  once 
reduced  to  the  impious  extremity  of  devouring  the 
shew-bread  from  off  the  altar.  It  was  rumored 
that  things  even  more  terrible  had  taken  place 
of  late  in  the  temple,  where  Eleazar,  the  Zealot 
chief,  and  his  dissolute  soldiers  held  high  carnival 
in  the  intervals  of  battle ;  out  he,  Ben  Ethan,  was 
surely  not  responsible  for  the  misdeeds  of  others. 

Between  whiles,  when  his  patrons  were  busy  with 
warfare  or  engaged  in  the  accumulation  of  plunder, 
Ben  Ethan  pursued  the  legitimate  lines  of  his  busi- 
ness with  energy  and  discretion.  The  prices  of 
grain  ran  ruinously  high,  but  notwithstanding  this 
fact  hundreds  of  bags  of  wheat  and  barley  found  a 
snug  resting,  place  in  the  cellars  of  the  house  by 
the  gate. 

Ben  Ethan  contrived  that  for  the  most  part  this 
grain  should  be  delivered  under  cover  of  the  dark- 
ness. For  more  reasons  than  one,  he  was  unwill- 
ing that  his  neighbors  should  be  aware  of  these 
transactions.  "  It  is  written  thou  shalt  not  covet 
thy  neighbor's  goods,"  he  said  righteously.  "Be- 


246  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

hold  a  wise  man  boasteth  not  himself;  nor  will  he 
tempt  his  neighbor  to  sin  by  displaying  his  goods 
before  the  eyes  of  them  which  lack." 

As  the  time  for  the  Paschal  offering  drew  on,  he 
became  more  and  more  zealous  in  his  pious  observ- 
ances. Also,  he  ventured  to  display  in  the  front 
of  his  shop  a  large  quantity  of  Passover  bread,  tied 
up  with  bunches  of  bitter  herbs  ;  with  a  brave  show 
of  oil  cakes,  raisin  wine,  baskets  of  roasted  grain, 
and  other  foods  and  condiments  suited  to  the  holy 
season. 

Never  were  the  pilgrims  more  numerous  or  more 
devout,  thought  Ben  Ethan.  They  poured  through 
the  gates  in  countless  thousands,  with  an  anxious 
haste  and  silence  quite  unlike  the  joyous  bustle  of 
former  years.  All  Judaea,  it  would  seem,  had  flung 
itself  bodily  into  Jerusalem,  like  a  flock  of  fright- 
ened sheep  under  the  lash  of  the  terrible  Roman 
name.  "The  Romans  are  coming  !  The  Romans 
slay  and  spare  not !  The  Romans  will  leave  no  man 
alive !  Our  babes  will  they  kill  with  the  sword, 
and  our  women  will  they  sell  into  slavery  !  The 
Romans — the  Romans — the  Romans  !" 

For  the  most  part  this  never-ending  procession 
of  fugitives  were  heavily  laden  with  goods  and  pro- 
visions ;  also  they  brought  with  them  their  women 
and  young  children  by  hundreds  and  by  thousands; 
till,  what  with  the  wailing  of  the  little  ones  and  the 
bleating  of  unnumbered  flocks,  which  were  assem- 
bled for  the  sacrifice,  Jerusalem  gave  forth  a  strange 


THE  SHOPKEEPER  OF  THE  AGRA.  247 

piteous  sound,  like  that  of  a  mighty  shambles  on  the 
day  of  slaughter.  And  this  sound  ascended  to  the 
heavens.  But  the  heavens  were  as  brass. 

Ben  Ethan,  from  the  open  booth  in  front  of  his 
shop,  observed  this  great  and  ever-increasing  multi- 
tude with  wonder  and  satisfaction.  "Victuals  will 
be  hard  to  find  for  all  of  these  !"  he  ejaculated. 
"  But  what  of  the  prudent  man  who  hath  foreseen 
this  day  and  hath  also  made  provision  for  it  ?  Be- 
hold, he  will  reap  the  harvest  of  his  wisdom,  and 
that  harvest  will  be  gold  !" 

He  said  something  of  the  sort  to  a  woman  who 
stopped  at  his  stall  to  buy  food  for  her  child ;  and 
by  way  of  making  his  meaning  clear,  he  charged 
her  a  double  price  for  the  bread. 

She  paid  the  money  without  murmuring.  "  The 
Romans  are  just  behind  us  !"  she  said,  wiping  the 
sweat  from  her  forehead.  "  Thank  God  I  have 
reached  the  city  in  time  !" 

"In  time — eh?"  echoed  Ben  Ethan;  "and  the 
Romans  are  just  behind,  sayest  thou  ?  They  will 
perhaps  shut  up  the  city." 

The  woman  stared  at  him  with  a  frown.  "  How 
can  I  tell  thee  what  will  come  to  pass,"  she  said 
wearily.  "  The  Romans  cannot  get  into  Jerusalem  ; 
that  much  is  certain. — Thou  art  safe,  little  one,  eat 
thy  bread  and  be  silent!"  For  the  child,  terrified 
at  the  mention  of  the  Roman  name,  had  begun  to 
whimper  and  clutch  at  her  gown. 

"They  will  shut  up  the  city!"  said.  Ben  Ethan 


248  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

to  himself,  snapping  his  fingers  gleefully,  as  his 
customer  disappeared  from  view  in  the  crowd. 
"  Ah,  what  a  time  for  a  poor  man  with  a  wise  heart ! 
A  good  time,  say  I, — a  fat,  rich,  profitable  time  !" 

So  pleasantly  occupied  did  he  become  in  calcula- 
ting the  gains  certain  to  accrue  to  his  prudent  and 
far-seeing  self  in  case  of  a  prolonged  siege,  that  he 
failed  to  observe  the  advent  of  a  new  customer. 
He  was  called  to  himself  by  a  truculent  voice. 

"  A  cup  of  wine,  Jew,  and  a  loaf !  Bestir  thyself, 
for  I  am  in  haste." 

Ben  Ethan  perceived  with  some  trepidation  that 
his  patron  was  a  soldier,  also  that  he  was  eyeing 
the  interior  of  the  shop  with  a  sharp  and  covetous 
gaze.  He  did  not  remember  to  have  seen  the  man 
before.  "  Make  thy  choice  of  the  loaves,  honored 
sir,"  he  said  civilly  ;  "  the  large  ones  are  a  denarius ; 
the  small  ones  yonder  in  the  basket,  a  penny  each. 
As  for  wine " 

"A  murrain  on  thee,  Jew  !  dost  think  I  will  pay 
thee  for  a  bite  and  a  sup?"  growled  the  soldier, 
fixing  his  red  eyes  threateningly  on  Ben  Ethan. 
"  I  will  eat  as  I  will  of  the  loaves,  and  do  thou 
bestir  thyself  to  fetch  the  wine." 

"Thou  art  welcome,  patriot,"  stammered  Ben 
Ethan,  backing  precipitately  into  the  shop.  " — the 
wine  ?  yes — certainly  ;  I  will  fetch  it  without  delay." 
Then  bethinking  himself  that  his  presence  might 
prove  something  of  a  check  on  the  rapacity  of  the 
hungry  man,  who  had  already  made  serious  inroads 


THE  SHOPKEEPER  OF  THE  AGRA.  249 

upon  his  stock  of  fresh-baked  loaves,  he  called 
loudly  to  his  daughter,  commanding  her  to  fetch 
a  skin  of  wine  from  within.  She  obeyed  at  once. 

"  Girdle  of  Venus  !"  exclaimed  the  soldier,  drop- 
ping a  half-eaten  cake  to  stare  at  the  girl  who  stood 
in  the  open  doorway.  "  The  goddess  hath  after  all 
remembered  me.  It  is  the  pretty  maid  I  captured 
on  the  street  a  twelvemonth  or  more  ago  !  Nay, 
my  bird,  thou  hast  not  already  forgotten  Saph,  who 
saved  thce  from  the  mob  in  the  square  of  Antonia ! 
May  all  the  gods  bear  me  witness  that  thou  art 
handsomer  than  ever !  This  time  thou  shalt  not 
slip  through  my  fingers  !" 

He  pushed  boldly  into  the  shop  with  out- 
stretched arms,  as  if  to  seize  the  girl ;  but  Mero- 
dah,  who  had  stood  at  first  transfixed  with  terror, 
retreated  instantly,  locking  and  barring  the  heavy 
door  behind  her. 

For  once  Ben  Ethan  could  have  cursed  himself 
for  his  miserly  folly.  He  filled  a  cup  with  wine  and 
advanced  trembling.  "  The — wine,  patriot ;  thou 
wilt  find  it  good  and  strong,  I  trust." 

"  Scorpions  and  furies  !"  roared  the  soldier,  dash- 
ing the  cup  aside.  "  I  want  the  girl !  Fetch  her 
out  to  me  !" 

Ben  Ethan's  eyes  flashed  fire ;  his  wizened  figure 
dilated  with  wrath.  "  She  is  my  daughter,  dog  of 
a  Gentile  !"  he  cried  shrilly  ;  "  and  under  the  pro- 
tection of  Jehovah  of  Israel !" 

The  soldier  made  a  motion  as  though  he  would 


250  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

have  seized  the  merchant  by  the  throat ;  then  he 
fell  back  a  pace  and  burst  into  a  fit  of  uproarious 
laughter.  Something  in  the  aspect  of  the  puny  Jew 
seemed  to  afford  him  exquisite  amusement.  It  was 
as  if  a  mouse  had  suddenly  presumed  to  defy  a 
lion. 

"  May  the  gods  smite  me,"  he  cried,  "  but  thou 
art  more  of  a  fool  than  one  often  meets  with  in 
these  days  !  What  now  is  to  hinder  me,  swine  of  a 
Jew,  from  crushing  thee  against  the  wall  of  thy 
shop,  as  one  would  crush  a  fly  ;  and  that  done,  who 
but  this  Gentile  would  be  master  of  thy  daughter 
and  thy  money-bags. — For  thou  hast  a  pretty  store 
hidden  away  within,  I'll  warrant  me.  How  comes 
it  that  thou  art  here  unmolested,  with  a  beauty  like 
yonder  wench  shut  up  to  thyself?" 

Ben  Ethan's  face  had  become  the  color  of  clay 
during  this  harangue  ;  thrice  he  attempted  to  speak, 
but  his  voice  failed  him.  "  Mercy,  patriot !"  he 
stammered  at  length.  "  Have  I  not  made  thee  wel- 
come to  all  that  I  have  ?  I  am  a  poor  man  ;  I  have 
nothing — I  swear  it — also," — his  voice  gaining 
strength — "  I  am  under  protection  of  John  of  Gis- 
chala." 

At  sound  of  this  name  the  soldier  glanced  over 
his  shoulder  uneasily.  "Thou  art  lying,"  he  said, 
staring  hard  at  Ben  Ethan  ;  "  I  know  thou  art  lying, 
for  I  myself  belong  to  the  forces  of  John.  Listen, 
Jew,  I  caught  the  girl  on  the  street  a  twelvemonth 
or  more  ago ;  she  is  therefore  mine — though  she 


THE  SHOPKEEPER  OF  THE  AGRA.  251 

escaped  me  for  the  time  by  reason  of  a  cursed 
priest.  I  have  possessed  many  women,  but  this 
little  one  is  a  thousand  times  more  beautiful  than 
any  of  them.  I  will  have  her ;  that  much  is  cer- 
tain !  Thou  thyself  wilt  deliver  her  up  to  me 
peaceably,  or  thou  shalt  fight  for  her  with  me." 
Here  his  amusement  again  overcame  him,  and  he 
paused  to  give  vent  to  it. 

Ben  Ethan  wiped  the  great  drops  from  his  fore- 
head and  groaned  aloud.  "  Now  a  plague  on  a 
comely  face  !"  he  muttered  ;  " — a  comely  face  and 
a  lecherous  eye  hath  sent  more  than  one  righteous, 
law-abiding  man  to  an  untimely  death."  He  re- 
solved that  this  should  not  be  his  case,  come  what 
might.  Still  the  girl  was  his  daughter  ;  he  would 
make  an  effort  to  save  her. 

Aloud  he  said  deprecatingly,  "  The  maid  is  not 
over  beautiful,  patriot.  She  is  blind  of  one  eye — 
alas !  Also,  she  is  afflicted  with  the  disorder  of 
leprosy,  which  as  thou  art  aware " 

"Lies!"  roared  the  soldier.  "What  knowest 
thou  of  beauty,  dotard  ?  I  have  eyes  in  my  head 
and  can  see.  Fetch  out  the  girl,  I  say!"  With 
that  he  brushed  the  Jew  aside  as  though  he  were 
an  insect,  and  laid  a  violent  hand  upon  the  door. 

To  his  amazement  it  was  flung  wide  open,  and 
Merodah  stood  upon  the  threshold. 


252  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

OUT    OF    THE    NORTH. 

WHILE  the  soldier,  who,  like  most  giants, 
was  somewhat  slow  both  of  wit  and  body, 
still  stared  open-mouthed  at  the  unlocked  for  ap- 
parition of  the  girl,  Merodah  seized  her  father  and 
drew  him  within  the  shelter  of  the  door. 

The  sound  of  the  heavy  wooden  bar,  as  it  shot 
home  into  its  socket,  awakened  the  man  outside  to 
the  fact  that,  for  the  moment,  his  victims  had  both 
escaped  him.  Obeying  his  first  impulse,  he  began 
a  furious  assault  upon  the  closed  door,  with  but 
little  result  beyond  a  scarce  perceptible  straining 
of  its  stout  oaken  timbers.  Then  bethinking  him- 
self that  there  was  an  easier  way  to  accomplish  his 
wishes,  since  the  Jew  could  not  remain  shut  within 
his  house  for  any  length  of  time,  he  proceeded  to 
amuse  his  leisure  by  looting  the  shop.  He  passed 
in  this  way  some  very  agreeable  moments ;  great 
handfuls  of  the  delicate  cakes  finding  their  way 
into  the  street,  to  the  joy  of  a  half  dozen  starved- 
looking  children,  who  gathered  fearless  as  sparrows 
to  the  scene.  Later,  having  emptied  the  baskets, 
this  open-handed  patriot  proceeded  to  bombard  the 
locked  door  with  a  miscellaneous  assortment  of 


OUT  OF  THE  NORTH.  253 

olives,  plates,  cups,  wooden  bowls,  oil  flasks  and 
the  like. 

Ben  Ethan,  cowering  just  inside,  could  not  be 
induced  to  leave  the  neighborhood  of  the  disaster. 
"My  God,"  he  moaned  piteously,  wringing  his 
hands,  "  I  shall  be  ruined !  I  must  go  out  and 
defend  my  property !" 

Merodah  laid  her  hand  upon  his  shoulder.  "  If 
thou  goest  out,  my  father,"  she  said,  "I  go  also." 

"Sacred  fire,  girl!  Get  out  of  my  sight;  'tis 
thou  and  no  other  who  art  the  cause  of  it  all ! 
Didst  thou  not  disobey  me ;  and  is  not  this  the 
result  of  that  disobedience?  Ay — the  woman  which 
thou  gavest  me.  'Tis  always  the  woman — the 
woman — the  woman  !" 

The  sounds  outside  suddenly  ceased ;  the  fact 
being  that  Saph,  having  exhausted  the  stock  of 
available  ammunition,  was  casting  about  for  some 
new  mischief.  Chancing,  in  his  rambling  tour  of 
investigation,  to  arrive  opposite  the  outside  door, 
he  espied  a  couple  of  his  boon  companions  in  the 
street. 

"Well  met,  comrades,"  he  roared,  thrusting  his 
great  head  out  from  the  booth.  "  Here's  capital 
sport  for  us  all !  An  obstinate  swine  of  a  Jew,  a 
pretty  maid  and  a  skin  of  good  wine.  Look  you, 
they  be  all  inside  awaiting  your  pleasure !" 

"  Better  sport  on  the  walls,"  returned  the  others. 
"Come  with  us  ;  the  Romans  are  in  sight !" 

Saph  hesitated  for  an  instant ;   then  bestowing 


254  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

two  or  three  thundering  kicks  on  the  closed  door, 
he  yielded  to  the  superior  attraction,  promising 
himself  a  complete  and  satisfactory  vengeance  upon 
this  particular  house  later  on. 

An  hour  after  his  departure  Ben  Ethan  ventured 
out  from  his  stronghold.  During  that  hour  he  had 

o  o 

ample  time  to  reflect  upon  the  threatening  aspect 
of  his  affairs.  "  God  of  Abraham  !"  he  murmured 
disconsolately,  his  eyes  roving  about  over  the  scene 
of  desolation  and  ruin  which  the  soldier  had  left 
behind  him  ;  "  there  is  no  longer  any  place  in  Jeru- 
salem for  a  prudent  man  who  would  labor  with  his 
hands  for  the  reward  of  his  diligence !"  Which 
indeed  was  a  far  truer  saying  than  Ben  Ethan  in 
his  short-sighted  wisdom  could  guess. 

To  Merodah  the  hour  had  been  one  of  fear  and 
anguish.  More  than  once  in  her  short  life  she 
had  stumbled  upon  black  depths  in  the  nature  of 
the  man  whom  she  revered  ;  depths  which  in  child- 
like faith  and  humility  she  had  endeavored  to 
bridge  over  with  love's  tender  apologies.  "  Father 
knows  best,"  she  assured  herself  over  and  over; 
"  I  am  a  foolish  maid  and  do  not  understand." 
She  believed  firmly  that  her  father  was  the  best 
and  wisest  of  men ;  the  something  within  her  own 
innocent  soul  which  now  and  again  rose  up  in  re- 
volt against  the  man's  cowardly  nature  frightened 
and  tortured  her.  She  longed  to  lean  upon  his 
strength,  to  love — to  worship  him. 

Ben  Ethan  accepted  this  fragrant  homage  with 


OUT  OF  THE  NORTH.  255 

as  much  comprehension  of  its  meaning  and  value 
as  men  of  his  kind  are  wont  to  exhibit.  His 
daughter  was  his  daughter,  and  for  this  reason 
alone  presumably  possessed  of  some  merit ;  she 
was  also  the  last  of  his  family.  He  had  bitterly 
resented  the  fact  that  his  wife  had  not  borne  him  a 
son  ;  but,  inasmuch  as  she  had  promptly  paid  the 
penalty  of  her  mistake  with  her  life,  he  had  magnan- 
imously forgiven  her  memory.  After  all  the  girl 
had  proved  herself  useful ;  she  was  meek,  obedient, 
and  possessed  of  a  skillful  hand  in  the  fashioning 
and  baking  of  the  cakes,  which  up  to  this  time  had 
formed  his  chief  stock  in  trade.  He  intended  at 
some  time  in  the  future  to  marry  her  to  a  reputable 
Jew.  Indeed,  more  than  once  of  late  he  had  cast 
about  in  the  circle  of  his  acquaintance  for  a  possible 
son-in-law  ;  but  in  every  case  the  proposed  mar- 
riage price  had  not,  on  the  whole,  appeared  suffi- 
cient to  compensate  him  for  the  loss  of  his  daugh- 
ter's services. 

To-day  as  he  endeavored  to  restore  his  dis- 
mantled shop  to  some  degree  of  order  he  cursed 
himself  both  loud  and  deep  for  his  procrastination 
in  this  matter.  "The  girl  is  a  positive  menace  to 
me !"  he  muttered ;  "  I  swear  that  I  will  marry 
her  within  the  week — if  it  be  to  a  beggar  on  the 
street  corner." 

Full  of  this  idea  he  double-locked  and  barred 
the  doors  behind  him,  and  without  speaking  to  his 
daughter  of  his  benevolent  plans  for  her  future 


256  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

hurried  away  into  the  inner  city.  He  had  the  intent 
to  broach  the  matter  of  the  marriage  to  a  dealer  in 
sacrificial  animals,  who  conducted  his  business  hard 
by  the  tower  of  Antonia.  This  man  was  a  con- 
temporary of  his  own,  and  a  widower  for  the  third 
time. 

"  I  will  not  be  over  strict  in  the  matter  of  the 
dowry,"  he  said  to  himself;  "the  girl  is  young  and 
eats  more  than  I, — and  God  knows  every  mouthful 
will  shortly  be  worth  a  denarius  !  Nehemiah  Ben 
Azor  is  a  worthy  man,  and  ought  to  be  prosperous 
this  Passover  season  if  never  before. — Lord,  what 
a  power  of  folk  in  Jerusalem,  and  a  lamb  for  every 
ten !" 

He  had  arrived  by  this  time  at  the  street  of  the 
sacrifices,  where  dwelt  the  man  whom  he  sought. 
For  the  first  time  he  noticed  the  singular  stillness 
which  brooded  over  the  city.  It  was  nearing  the 
hour  of  noon,  for  the  sun  stood  almost  overhead, 
shedding  a  blaze  of  light  into  the  narrow  street, 
which  was  choked  for  a  part  of  its  length  with  the 
ruins  of  fallen  houses.  Ben  Ethan  clambered  nim- 
bly through  one  such  ruinous  building,  picking  up 
on  his  way  a  silver  anklet  and  a  bronze  drinking- 
cup,  which  had  escaped  the  covetous  eyes  of  the 
beggars,  who  followed  in  the  wake  of  the  destroy- 
ing soldiers  like  a  swarm  of  vultures.  He  surveyed 
these  articles  with  an  air  of  satisfaction.  "  A  good 
omen!"  he  ejaculated,  and  made  obeisance  toward 
the  temple.  "  So  doth  the  Lord  prosper  the  law- 


OUT  OF  THE  NORTH.  257 

observing  ! — But  what  hath  become  of  all  the  peo- 
ple ?  I  have  seen  neither  man,  woman  nor  child 
since  I  left  my  door." 

Marveling  much  within  himself  at  this  circum- 
stance, Ben  Ethan  knocked  loudly  upon  the  door 
of  the  dealer  in  sacrificial  animals.  "  A  comely 
woman  is  my  daughter,"  he  was  saying  to  himself; 
"and  for  the  marriage  portion  I  will  give  an  hun- 
dred pence ; — yes,  I  swear  that  I  will  do  it,  for  I 
shall  want  no  more  cakes  baked ;  I  will  sell  instead 
the  naked  grain  ;  and  the  girl  will  devour  as  much 
— and  more,  in  a  twelvemonth." 

When  there  was  no  answer  to  his  summons,  he 
knocked  again  and  yet  again.  "  By  the  Ephod  J" 
he  muttered,  "  has  the  earth  then  opened  and  swal- 
lowed the  inhabitants  of  the  Agra  ?  Or  do  they 
think  it  is  midnight  instead  of  midday?"  With 
that  he  laid  his  hand  upon  the  door ;  to  his  surprise 
it  yielded  to  his  touch,  and  he  stepped  without  hin- 
drance into  the  courtyard.  The  place  was  crowded 
with  lambs,  huddled  close  together  under  the  hot 
rays  of  the  sun. 

"  The  Paschal  beasts — and  without  a  guardian  !" 
cried  Ben  Ethan  aloud.  "  Ben  Azor  is  either  dead 
or  mad.  If  he  be  dead — and  verily,  men  die  easily 
in  these  days,  the  animals  must  be  looked  to — and 
sold." 

Determined  to  solve  the  question  to  his  satisfac- 
tion, and  already  uncertain  in  his  mind  as  to 
whether  it  were  better  to  marry  his  daughter  or  fall 


258  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

heir  to  a  dead  man's  property,  this  excellent  man 
of  affairs  pushed  through  the  courtyard  and  began 
to  ascend  the  stairs  which  led  up  to  the  inhabited 
portion  of  the  house.  As  he  went  he  called  loudly 
upon  Ben  Azor. 

"  Who  is  it  that  calls  me?"  cried  a  gruff  voice 
from  above.  "  Come  up — come  up — in  God's 
name,  whoever  thou  art  ;  for  I  will  not  come  down 
in  this  hour." 

"What  in  the  name  of  the  Che  I — "  began  Ben 
Ethan,  wheezing  and  wiping  the  sweat  from  his 
forehead  as  he  set  foot  upon  the  hot  level  of  the 
roof.  Then  he  stopped  short  and  stared  in  amaze- 
ment ;  Ben  Azor,  his  sons,  his  daughters,  his  man- 
servants and  his  maid-servants,  were  one  and  all  as- 
sembled at  the  verge  of  the  battlemented  roof, 
gazing  from  under  leveled  palms  away  toward  the 
north. 

"  What  is  it  ?"  he  cried.  "  Are  ye  all  mad — and 
the  house  unlocked  and  unguarded?" 

Ben  Azor,  a  tall  powerful  man,  whose  beard  de- 
scended in  waves  of  silvery  whiteness  upon  his 
broad  chest,  motioned  to  the  newcomer  authorita- 
tively. "Come  thou,"  he  said,  hoarsely,  "and 
behold  what  the  eyes  of  no  Jew  hath  beheld  from 
the  days  of  Moses — a  hostile  army  descending 
upon  the  holy  city  at  the  time  of  the  Passover. 
God  knoweth  what  will  be  the  end  of  it  all !" 

"They  will  shut  up  the  city  !"  cried  Ben  Ethan 
shrilly.  "I  have  said  that  it  would  happen  ;  I  knew 


OUT  OF  THE  NORTH.  259 

that  it  would  happen  ;  and  pilgrims  from  Galilee 
and  Samaria  and  Perea  and  from  beyond  the  moun- 
tains— and  all  Judaea  to  a  man.  Veil  of  the  tem- 
ple !  There  can  be  no  fewer  than  fifty  score  of 
thousands — not  counting  the  children ;  and  the 
granaries  burned  with  fire  !" 

Ben  Azor  groaned  aloud  and  beat  upon  his 
breast.  "We  have  sinned,"  he  said,  "and  our 
punishment  is  nigh  at  hand  !" 

Ben  Ethan  chuckled  behind  his  hand.  "  The 
Lord  is  merciful  to  such  as  keep  his  laws  and  walk 
orderly  after  the  customs,"  he  said  piously;  "for 
myself  I  fear  nothing  ; — but  for  my  daughter,  now, 
a  beautiful  maid  and  the  only  child  of  my  old  age, 
I  feel " 

"  Hold  thy  peace,  man,  and  pray  for  the  deliver- 
ance of  Jerusalem!"  said  Ben  Azor,  turning  his 
back  upon  his  visitor. 

And  Ben  Ethan,  deeming  it  prudent  to  withhold 
for  the  present  the  object  of  his  visit,  approached 
the  parapet  and  looked  forth.  He  now  beheld 
clearly  the  reason  for  the  strange  stillness  which 
prevailed  in  the  streets  and  squares  of  the  city.  As 
far  as  the  eye  could  reach  over  the  vast  expanse  of 
housetops,  the  roofs  were  crowded  with  people ; 
their  robes  of  white  and  scarlet,  yellow  and  blue, 
glowing  like  vast  beds  of  flowers  beneath  the  steady 
radiance  of  the  noonday  sun.  Over  this  scene  of 
glowing  life  brooded  a  singular  silence  ;  there  was 
no  sound  of  shouting  from  roofs  or  towers ;  no 


260  THE  CEOSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

clash  of  weapons  nor  martial  blare  of  trumpets  from 
walls  or  battlements,  though  like  the  housetops 
these  places  swarmed  with  people.  Beyond  the 
walls  lay  the  familar  valleys,  dusky  with  cool  shad- 
ows ;  while  the  mountains  stretched  softly  heaven- 
ward, clothed  to  their  tops  with  blossoming  groves 
and  vineyards,  here  and  there  a  white-walled  villa 
or  a  cluster  of  cottages  gleaming  like  pearls  amid 
the  surrounding  greenery.  Over  all  lay  the  sun- 
shine of  mid  April  like  a  benediction. 

North  and  south,  east  and  west,  the  great  Roman 
highways  wound  like  silver  ribbons  among  the 
smooth  green  hills.  Away  to  the  north,  over 
Scopus,  Ben  Ethan  could  see  a  great  cloud  of  dust 
hanging  vast  and  threatening  upon  the  horizon.  In 
the  front  of  this  cloud  a  solid  phalanx  of  men  and 
horses  advanced  steadily,  the  sun  striking  blinding 
sparks  of  splendor  from  spear-point  and  standard. 

"The  Romans!"  he  muttered,  for  the  moment 
forgetting  all,  save  that  he  was  a  Jew.  "  Lord  Je- 
hovah deliver  us  out  of  their  hand  !" 

From  the  silent  city  there  arose  a  mighty,  far- 
reaching  wail  that  pierced  to  the  noonday  heavens, 
and  echoed  in  a  thousand  ominous  reverberations 
from  the  sacred  heights  of  Olivet. 

There  were  many  who  remembered  in  that  hour 
the  word  of  the  prophet  Jeremiah  :  "  Then  said  the 
Lord  unto  me ;  out  of  the  North  shall  an  evil 
break  forth  upon  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  land  ; 
for  lo,  I  will  call  all  the  families  of  the  kingdoms 


OUT  OF  THE  NORTH.  261 

of  the  North,  saith  the  Lord  ;  and  they  shall  come 
and  shall  set  their  throne  at  the  entering  of  the 
Gates  of  Jerusalem,  and  against  all  the  walls 
thereof  round  about,  and  against  all  the  cities  of 
Judah.  Be  astonished,  O  ye  heavens,  at  this,  and 
be  horribly  afraid ;  be  ye  very  desolate,  saith  the 
Lord.  For  my  people  have  committed  two  evils  ; 
they  have  forsaken  the  fountain  of  living  waters 
and  hewed  them  out  cisterns — broken  cisterns  that 
can  hold  no  water." 


262  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

A    HIRED    SERVANT. 

A  SOUND  of  hurrying  feet  and  loud  voices  in 
the  street  below  recalled  Ben  Ethan  to  the 
consideration  of  his  own  immediate  affairs;  he 
shuddered  to  think  that  at  any  moment  the  gigantic 
soldier  might  return  with  a  band  of  his  fellows. 
"  If  they  break  into  the  house,"  he  thought,  the 
cold  sweat  starting  out  upon  his  forehead,  "  the  girl 
might  show  them  the  cellars." 

He  looked  stealthily  at  Ben  Azor ;  the  dealer  in 
sacrifices  was  still  beating  upon  his  breast,  while 
tears  streamed  from  his  eyes  and  mingled  with  his 
beard.  Ben  Ethan's  thin  lips  curled  with  contempt. 
"Thou  canst  either  help  an  evil  matter,  friend,  or 
thou  canst  not,"  he  cried  sharply.  "  If  thou  canst 
help  it,  well ;  if  not,  resign  thyself  to  the  decrees 
of  the  Eternal, — ay,  and  wring  good  out  of  evil, 
even  as  men  force  a  fat  harvest  from  stony  and 
barren  soil.  Hearken  unto  me,  neighbor,  the  Ro- 
mans are  upon  us  of  a  verity,  but  why  weep  and 
beat  the  breast  ?  Get  thee  down  ;  sell  thy  beasts 
and  hide  the  money  till  the  war  cloud  blow  over. 
For  myself  I  will — yes,  I  will  do  what  I  can.  I 
am  a  poor  man,  yet  to  see  my  daughter — the  only 


A  HIRED  SERVANT.  263 

child  of  my  old  age — safely  bestowed  in  these  evil 
days,  I  will  give  a  marriage  portion  of — of  one 
hundred  silver  pence.  It  will  impoverish  me — ay, 
truly ;  but  I  am  old  and  can  endure.  Take  thou 
the  maid  to  wife,  and  increase  thy  substance  and 
thy  household." 

Ben  Azor  stared  at  his  guest  with  astonishment 
not  unmixed  with  displeasure.  "  Shall  I  think  of 
wives  and  feasting,  and  buying  and  selling  in  this 
the  day  of  Israel's  peril  ?"  he  said  slowly.  "  Nay, 
it  is  an  evil  hour  in  the  which  to  espouse  a  maid. 
Keep  thou  her  safe  in  thine  own  house  till  the 
days  be  finished ;  and  then  haply  thou  shalt  give 
her  to  wife,  if  there  be  any  man  left  alive  to  be  her 
husband." 

"  Dost  thou  refuse  then  ?"  cried  Ben  Ethan  in  a 
fury,  " — and  I  have  asked  thee  for  no  marriage 
price  ;  didst  thou  hear  aright?" 

"  It  is  a  time  of  mourning,  not  of  merrymaking ; 
more  than  that,  I  am  already  an  old  man ;  I  shall 
not  again  wear  the  marriage  crown."  Ben  Azor 
said  this  with  all  possible  gentleness  ;  for  it  is  truly 
an  evil  thing  to  refuse  an  offer  of  marriage.  His 
sons  and  daughters,  his  servants  also,  both  male 
and  female,  had  heard  the  thing,  and  after  the 
manner  of  youth  were  eyeing  one  another  with 
meaning  smiles. 

Ben  Ethan  flung  himself  adown  the  stairway,  two 
steps  at  a  time.  "Anathema!"  he  cried  shrilly. 
"  May  the  Romans  spoil  this  house  !" 


264  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

He  scattered  curses  of  the  kind  with  a  lavish 
hand  during  the  next  hour,  even  as  a  man  sows 
mischievous  seed  in  the  field  of  the  neighbor  whom 
he  hates ;  for  of  all  that  he  approached  on  the 
subject  of  the  marriage  not  one  gave  him  any  an- 
swer save  that  of  Ben  Azor.  "  It  is  not  a  time  for 
marrying  nor  giving  in  marriage." 

He  emerged  from  the  dwelling  of  a  beater  of 
brass,  who  had  a  marriageable  son,  in  a  very  fury. 
In  this  place  he  had  increased  the  amount  of  the 
dowry  to  three  hundred  pence,  only  to  meet  with 
the  same  reply.  "  My  son  will  defend  the  temple," 
said  the  worker  in  brass ;  "  if  haply  he  survive,  we 
will  again  speak  of  the  matter." 

Ben  Ethan  cursed  the  worker  in  brass,  and  his 
sons  and  his  daughters,  his  house  also  and  every- 
thing that  he  possessed ;  he  wished  moreover  that 
the  man  might  remain  unburied  after  death,  and 
that  of  his  children  not  one  should  remain  alive. 

Being  quite  absorbed  in  his  own  evil  thoughts 
he  all  but  fell  upon  the  body  of  a  man  which  lay 
squarely  across  the  street.  This  man  was  dead,  he 
observed  with  indifference,  but  from  beneath  his 
prostrate  body  peeped  out  the  corner  of  what  looked 
to  be  a  sack  of  grain.  Upon  investigation  it  ap- 
peared that  it  was  a  sack  of  grain — and  full  to  the 
top. 

"  Dead  men  eat  no  bread,"  quoth  Ben  Ethan. 
"  Some  Sicar  hath  thrust  the  fellow  through  for  his 
purse ;  for  I  perceive  by  his  dress  that  he  is  a 


A  HIRED  SERVANT.  265 

Perean."  With  considerable  difficulty  he  pushed 
the  body  to  one  side  and  pulled  out  the  sack ;  it 
was  large  and  heavy ;  Ben  Ethan  could  scarcely 
lift  it.  "Must  I  then  empty  out  a  part  of  it,"  he 
murmured  disconsolately  " — and  grain  worth  its 
weight  in  silver  ?" 

He  looked  about  him  for  some  solution  of  the 
difficulty.  Not  ten  paces  away  beneath  the  shadow 
of  an  archway  sat  a  man,  his  head  bowed  upon  his 
knees.  "  If  he  be  neither  dead  nor  drunken  with 
wine,"  thought  Ben  Ethan,  approaching  the  motion- 
less figure  with  caution,  "it  may  be  that  I  shall 
be  able  to  hire  him  to  fetch  the  bag  home  for  me." 
He  was  emboldened  to  touch  the  man  upon  the 
shoulder,  since  he  perceived  by  his  ragged  tunic 
that  he  was  neither  Sicar  nor  soldier. 

The  man  lifted  his  head  from  his  knees  and 
looked  up.  "What  wilt  thou?"  he  said  hoarsely. 

Ben  Ethan  observed  with  satisfaction  that  he  was 
young,  and  of  a  pallid  and  haggard  countenance 
which  spoke  of  hunger.  "  A  handful  of  the  grain 
will  hire  him,"  he  thought.  Aloud  he  said,  "  I 
have  purchased  a  sack  of  grain,  young  man,  and 
find  myself  unable  to  fetch  it  home ;  thou  art  a 
sturdy  fellow ;  carry  it  for  me  and  I  will  repay 
thee." 

By  way  of  answer  the  young  man  arose — he  was 
of  great  stature  and  strength — and  flung  the  sack 
upon  his  shoulder.  "Where  shall  I  take  it?"  he 
asked. 


266  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

Ben  Ethan  looked  up  at  him  with  wonder  and 
alarm.  "I — I  am  armed,"  he  said  shrilly,  "and 
can  slay  thee  with  ease  if  thou  dost  attempt  to 
escape  me  with  the  bag.  Go  thou  before.  I  will 
tell  thee  where." 

In  this  manner — the  tall  young  man  with  the 
sack  upon  his  shoulder,  and  the  bent,  wizened 
figure  of  the  miser  scuttling  rapidly  along  at  his 
heels — the  two  reached  the  house  by  the  gate. 
Ben  Ethan  unbarred  his  door  with  a  great  rattling 
and  banging.  "Set  the  sack  within,"  he  said 
sharply. 

"Thy  pay — eh?  The  task  is  surely  not  worth 
a  farthing.  Come,  I  will  give  thee  a  mouthful  of 
yesterday's  bread,  and  thou  shalt  depart  in  peace." 

"Ay,  give  me  the  loaf  quickly,"  said  the  man 
who  had  carried  the  grain.  "  I  have  not  tasted 
bread  since — Nay,  I  know  not." 

"There  will  be  many  in  thy  case  before  the  Feast 
of  Weeks,"  said  Ben  Ethan,  twisting  his  grim  feat- 
ures into  the  semblance  of  a  smile.  Then  his  eyes 
started  out  of  his  head  with  terror  ;  a  group  of  sol- 
diers had  turned  the  corner,  laughing  and  shouting. 
"  Come  thou  in,"  he  gasped,  seizing  the  stranger  by 
the  arm ;  "  thou  shalt  have  bread  and  wine  also. 
T  ou  art  a  stout  fellow,  and  the  soldiers  yonder  will 
ruin  me,  if  they  get  into  my  house."  He  had  fas- 
tened the  door  again  by  this  time,  and  stood  trem- 
bling and  shaking  with  abject  terror. 

"  Thou  art  a  stout  fellow,  I  say, — and  yes,  thou 


A  HIRED  SERVANT.  267 

hast  the  look  of  an  honest  man.  Tell  me,  who  art 
thou,  and  whence  comest  thou  ?  who  knows  but 
that  I  may  hire  thee — that  is  for  a  bite  and  a  sup ; 
it  is  worth  no  more  in  these  days  when  grain  is  as 
silver,  and  like  to  be  as  gold." 

The  stranger  looked  about  the  dismantled  shop 
with  a  faint  show  of  curiosity ;  then  he  fixed  his 
sunken  eyes  upon  Ben  Ethan.  "My  name  is  Phan- 
nias,"  he  said  slowly.  "  I  am  from — the  moun- 
tains beyond.  I  came  to  Jerusalem  in  an  evil  hour. 
I  have  no  money.  I  must  work  or  die." 

"Thou  canst  not  get  away,  of  a  surety,"  said 
Ben  Ethan,  rubbing  his  hands  with  a  dry  chuckle. 
"  No  man  can  get  away  ;  and  the  mouth  will  eat — 
— eh  ?  or  the  bones  dry  up  within  the  flesh.  What 
a  time  for  the  rich  who  have  grain  to  sell — Lord, 
what  a  time  ! — Not  that  I  have  it,"  he  added  with 
trepidation,  "  I  am  a  poor  man.  I  have  a  single 
sack,  as  thou  seest ;  but  I  cannot  have  the  house 
pulled  down  about  my  ears  by  these  drunken 
wretches — may  Jehovah  smite  them  !  Veil  of  the 
temple !  I  hear  them ;  they  are  coming  nearer. 
Wilt  thou  stay  with  me  and  look  to  the  place  ?  I 
have  weapons — knives  and  the  like." 

"I  will  stay  for  the  present — yes,"  said  the  young 
man,  looking  down  upon  the  ground.  "  But  why 
thinkest  thou  that  I  will  not  destroy  thy  goods 
even  as  others  ?" 

Ben  Ethan  shrugged  his  shoulders.  "  I  have 
no  goods,"  he  whined  fretfully ;  "  have  I  not  said 


268  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

it  ?  But  there  is  the  house  and — Stay,  art  thou  a 
keeper  of  the  law  ?" 

"  I  neither  lie,  steal,  nor  covet  my  neighbor's 
goods,"  said  Phannias  scowling.  "  But  the  law — 
what  is  the  law,  when  the  ephod  and  breastplate  are 
burned  with  fire,  and  the  courts  of  the  temple  run 
red  with  the  blood  of  its  priests  ?  The  Messiah  is 
slain ;  the  city  and  the  nation  are  doomed." 

Ben  Ethan  drew  a  long  breath  of  relief.  "  If 
thou  art  a  Nazarene,  thou  canst  be  trusted  fast 
enough,"  he  said  briskly ;  "  the  knaves  will  go 
hungry  when  they  cannot  come  honestly  by  a  loaf; 
I  have  had  dealings  enough  with  them  to  know 
that  much. — Not  that  I  favor  the  apostates  and 
their  blasphemous  sayings  concerning  the  crucified 
carpenter,"  he  made  haste  to  add;  "for  myself  I 
keep  the  law,  and  my  skirts  are  clear  of  offence. 
But  come  in — come  in.  The  matter  is  settled  be- 
twixt us ;  thou  wilt  defend  my  premises ;  I  will 
give  thee  a  bite  and  a  sup,  as  I  can  afford  from  my 
slender  store." 

Phannias  followed  his  new  master  into  the  court- 
yard of  the  dwelling  house ;  the  place  was  clean 
and  sweet,  he  observed  with  dull  indifference,  but 
bare  and  of  desolate  aspect.  He  had  scarce  time 
to  look  about  him,  when  a  small  figure  darted  out 
from  the  shadowy  interior  of  a  room  to  the  left  of 
the  yard,  and  flung  itself  with  a  cry  upon  the  neck 
of  the  old  man. 

"  Father — oh  father  !     Thou  art  alive — thou  art 


A  HIRED  SERVANT,  269 

safe  !  Dear  father,  I  have  been  so  afraid — and  the 
house  so  silent,  and  all  the  people  crying  out  that 
the  Romans " 

"Unhand  me,  woman,"  growled  Ben  Ethan,  re- 
moving the  clinging  arms  with  no  tender  hand ; 
"  'tis  little  thanks  to  thee  that  I  am  alive  and  safe. 
Disobedient  one,  if  at  this  moment  I  lay  dead  in 
the  booth  without,  my  blood  would  rest  upon  thy 
head." 

The  girl  cried  out  again  at  these  cruel  words. 
"  Father — father  !  Spare  me.  I  love  thee  so  !" 

"  'Tis  not  the  hour  in  the  which  to  prate  of  thy 
affections,"  said  Ben  Ethan  savagely.  "  Come, 
hast  thou  no  eyes  for  the  stranger  within  our  gates  ? 
Bestir  thyself;  fetch  bread  and  wine  that  he  may 
eat,  as  I  promised." 

Merodah  turned  her  large  eyes  upon  Phannias  ; 
then  she  fell  back  a  pace  in  her  surprise,  her  scar- 
let lips  apart.  "  It  is, — why  it  is " 

"I  have  spoken,"  said  Ben  Ethan  loudly;  "wilt 
thou  again  disobey?" 

"  It  is  the  priest,  father, — the  good  priest  who 
saved  me  from  the  soldiers  so  long  ago  ! — Ay,  and 
from  the  cruel  princess  also,  who  would  have 
scourged  me.  Afterward  she  sent  me  home  with 
a  piece  of  silver.  Dost  thou  not  remember, 
father?" 

"  Am  I  like  to  forget  it,  girl,  after  to-day's  work  ? 
The  worth  of  ten  shekels  wantonly  destroyed ! 
Alas — alas  !  oil  -flasks  —  olives — cups — bowls — 


270  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

loaves — everything  gone,  because  of  thy  accursed 
folly !  But  what  can  one  expect  of  a  woman  ? 
Go  now,  and  fetch  the  bread, — there  is  nothing,  thou 
wilt  bear  in  mind,  save  the  fragments  of  yesterday's 
loaves." 

"  But  yes,  dear  father,"  said  Merodah  gently, 
"  there  are  also  the  fresh  cakes  which  I  have  baked 
this  very  day.  I  will  fetch  them,  and  water  for  the 
hands  and  feet — yes,  and  the  wine  and  oil."  The 
girl  cast  a  quick  look  of  gratitude  mingled  with 
fear  upon  Phannias  and  disappeared  within  the 
house. 

Ben  Ethan  stared  after  her  with  a  muttered  male- 
diction ;  then  he  turned  sharply  upon  the  young 
man.  "  Bide  thou  here,"  he  commanded ;  "  I 
must  speak  to  the  woman,  she  hath  clean  lost  her 
wits." 

Phannias  had  listened  to  the  conversation  be- 
tween the  old  man  and  his  daughter  with  a  rising 
fire  of  indignation  which  looked  out  of  his  eyes,  as 
he  surveyed  the  crafty,  wrinkled  face  upraised  to 
his.  "  Fetch  me  the  loaf  that  I  have  earned,"  he 
said,  "and  I  will  go." 

"  No — no  ;  it  was  agreed  betwixt  us — eh  ?  Thou 
wilt  remain.  A  priest,  declared  the  girl — but  no  ; 
she  has  lost  her  wits,  as  I  have  said ;  thou  art  not 
a  priest,  man?" 

"  I  was  a  priest,"  said  Phannias  bitterly,  " — but 
what  matters  that  to  thee  or  me ;  fetch  me  the  loaf, 
for  I  hunger  even  as  other  men.  I  will  go  then." 


A  HIRED  SERVANT.  271 

"  But  where  wilt  thou  go  ?"  persisted  Ben  Ethan. 
"  Not  to  the  temple ;  the  Zealots  have  slain  their 
puppet  high  priest,  whom  they  brought  but  yester- 
day from  his  labor  in  the  fields. — Jehovah  will  give 
them  blood  to  drink,  one  and  all,  for  the  sacrilege. 
As  thou  knowest,  the  gates  are  fast  shut  by  the 
Gischalan  to  them  that  would  go  out.  Hast  thou 
money  ?" 

"  No." 

"What  then  ;  one  cannot  live  without  money." 

"  I  have  my  two  hands — I  can  work." 

"  Thou  wilt  work  for  me,  as  I  have  said — for  a 
bite  and  a  sup." 

The  flower-like  face  of  Merodah  appeared  for 
an  instant  in  the  doorway  ;  she  was  smiling,  and  her 
eyes  sought  those  of  Phannias  with  the  glad  com- 
radry  of  youth. 

"  A  great  hulking  brute  of  a  soldier  attempted 
to  carry  off  the  maid  this  very  day,"  whined  Ben 
Ethan  ;  "and  when  I  would  have  protected  her,  the 
accursed  villain  spoiled  my  goods.  Oh,  my  loaves 
— my  oil-bottles — my  cups — my  bowls  !  And  he 
said  he  would  return — he  swore  he  would  return  ! 
If  thou  art  a  priest  thou  art  an  honorable  man  ;  I 
will  trust  thee  with  a  matter  now.  I  have  goods — 
some  few  bags  of  grain,  earned  by  the  painful  sweat 
of  an  honest  brow ;  if  the  soldier  return  for  the 
maid — as  he  swore  he  would,  he  might  also  carry 
away  my  goods.  I  have  no  son — woe  is  me ! 
Thou  shalt  remain  and  fend  for  me  as  a  son ;  after- 


272  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

ward — nay,  who  knows,  when  the  Romans  are  de- 
parted, I — I  will  reward  thee." 

Phannias  was  looking  upon  the  ground,  his  dark 
brows  knit  in  thought.  Yesterday,  he  had  told 
himself,  he  wished  for  nothing  save  death.  But 
when  years  be  few,  it  is  only  to-day  that  counts.  A 
fragment  of  song,  chanted  in  a  sweet  treble  voice, 
floated  out  to  him  from  the  house  : 

"  Jesus — Christ,  glad  light  of  the  Highest ! 
Light  of  the  Father — radiant,  holy  ! 
While  the  night  spreads  its  dim  mantle  o'er  us, 
We  worship  the  light  which  hath  shined — 
Which  hath  shined  in  the  darkness." 

Ben  Ethan  frowned.  "  The  girl  hath  picked  up 
certain  blasphemous  sayings  of  the  Nazarenes.  I 
let  my  upper  room  to  the  knaves  for  a  time.  They 
meet  now  on  the  street  below — the  few  that  be  left 
in  Jerusalem.  Verily,  if  the  holy  city  suffer  at  the 
hands  of  the  Romans,  I  believe  that  it  will  be 
because  of  the  crucified  carpenter  and  his  fol- 
lowers." 

Phannias  looked  up ;  a  steady  light  burned  in  his 
eyes.  "Thou  hast  spoken!"  he  said.  "And  look 
you,  I  will  remain  in  this  house  as  long  as  there  is 
need  of  my  presence." 


THE  COMING  STORM.  273 


CHAPTER   XXVIII. 

THE    COMING   STORM. 

BEN  ETHAN'S  fears  were  not  immediately 
realized.  As  the  days  went  on  he  began  to 
chafe  at  his  folly ;  the  soldiers  were  busy  upon  the 
walls,  it  was  said  ;  making  forays  beyond  the  walls, 
harassing  the  Romans  at  their  work  of  camp-build- 
ing, and  the  like.  At  all  events  they  did  not 
trouble  the  obscure  house  in  the  Agra. 

"  Another  mouth  to  feed  !"  groaned  the  old  man 
as  he  doled  out  the  scant  handfuls  of  grain,  which 
Merodah  ground  and  fashioned  into  bread.  "A 
mouth,  say  I  ?  Nay,  rather,  a  bottomless  pit  to 
fill ;  the  fellow  hath  the  appetite  of  a  beast, — Lord, 
he  hath  eaten  in  a  week  what  would  suffice  me 
for  a  month !" 

"  He  is  young,  father,"  said  Merodah,  with  anx- 
iety, "  and  so  strong  !  Thou  wouldst  never  guess, 
dear  father,  how  easily  he  lifted  the  great  stones 
for  grinding,  which  I  could  not  so  much  as  stir." 

"What  is  his  strength  to  me?"  snarled  Ben 
Ethan.  "  And  why  should  I  fill  the  mouth  of  a 
stranger  in  the  days  when  a  city  cries  out  for  bread  ? 
— Ay,  but  the  price  is  nothing  as  yet !  I  will  wait — 
I  will  wait." 


274  THE  CEOSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

Later  in  the  day  he  came  upon  the  two  in  the 
courtyard,  where  Phannias,  chafing  at  his  enforced 
idleness,  was  busying  himself  at  the  grindstones, 
in  truth  all  too  heavy  for  the  delicate  hands  of  the 
girl.  Merodah  was  kneading  the  meal  in  a  trough 
with  water,  her  dimpled  arms  bare  to  the  shoulder, 
her  smooth  cheeks  flushed  with  scarlet,  her  child- 
ish eyes  brimming  over  with  unconcealed  happiness. 
If  the  Romans  were  without,  what  then  ?  It  was 
still  pleasant  to  be  young,  and  the  sun  shone,  and 
the  swallows  twittered  gaily  as  ever. 

Ben  Ethan  stared  at  the  scene  with  tightened  lips 
and  a  frowning  brow.  "  Wilt  thou  do  a  woman's 
work  and  devour  a  man's  portion  ?"  he  said  sharply 
to  Phannias. 

The  young  man  looked  up.  "  I  would  work,"  he 
said  stoutly  ;  "  and  there  is  nothing  else  to  do." 

"  I  will  give  thee  a  task  better  suited  to  thy  ap- 
petite ;  go  thou  and  look  to  this  matter  of  the  siege. 
I  know  nothing  of  what  is  passing.  Go  to  the 
temple  platform — the  Zealots  hold  it ;  and  to  the 
upper  town — Simon  Bar-Gioras  is  in  power  there. 
Fetch  me  word  of  the  Passover  also  ;  will  they  kill 
in  the  temple  as  heretofore  ?  The  matter  must  be 
attended  to,  if  I  am  to  keep  the  law. 

Phannias  sprang  up  with  alacrity.  "  I  will  go  at 
once,"  he  said.  He  did  not  look  at  Merodah. 

"  Father,"  ventured  the  girl  timidly,  "  our  guest 
has  no  sword,  and  the  streets  are  full  of  bloody 
men." 


THE  COMING  STORM.  275 

Phannias  looked  back  into  the  sweet,  anxious 
face  ;  something  in  the  imploring  dark  eyes  brought 
the  heart-beats  to  his  throat. 

"  Thou  wilt  never  return,"  she  murmured. 

"  Nay,  but  I  will  return,  and  that  before  the  sun 
sets,"  said  Phannias. 

Ben  Ethan  smiled.  "  Do  not  fail,"  he  said  dryly, 
"  to  visit  the  upper  town  ;  it  is  there  that  thou  wilt 
learn  of  the  siege  and  our  chances  of  success 
against  the  Romans." 

Phannias  set  forth  upon  his  quest  with  a  more 
cheerful  and  confident  heart  than  he  had  carried 
with  him  for  many  a  day.  During  the  quiet  hours 
spent  in  the  house  of  Ben  Ethan  a  soothing  balm 
had  been  poured  with  lavish  hand  upon  his  bruised 
spirit.  Merodah,  with  the  beautiful  innocence  of  a 
child  and  the  tender  prescience  of  a  woman,  had 
divined  his  need,  and  out  of  the  abundance  of  her 
soul  had  ministered  to  him  as  an  angel  might  have 
done. 

She  had  not  forgotten  him,  she  assured  him. 
"  Ah,  no ;  I  could  never  do  that.  Also  I  have 
prayed  for  thee  many  times  each  day  since  that 
terrible  hour.  Truly,  after  I  knew  the  holy  Jesus, 
I  prayed  more  often  because,  as  thou  knowest,  he 
was  himself  like  to  us  and  knows  therefore  all  that 
we  need." 

Phannias  asked  the  girl  many  questions  concern- 
ing Jesus  of  Nazareth,  and  she  told  him  all  that 
she  had  learned  in  the  quiet  meetings  held  in  the 


276  THE  CEOSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

upper  room, — all,  and  more,  for  in  the  silence  of 
her  own  innocent  heart  the  divine  voice  spoke  ever 
more  distinctly. 

"Alas,"  she  said,  in  conclusion,  "they  went 
away  long  ago — that  is,  all  the  strong  men  and  the 
women  who  could  travel  and  the  little  ones." 

"Why  did  they  go?"  asked  Phannias. 

The  girl's  dark  eyes  grew  wide  with  fear.  "  The 
city  will  be  destroyed,"  she  whispered,  "and  all  that 
dwell  therein  will  perish  or  be  sold  into  slavery.  Yes, 
assuredly  it  will  happen.  He  said  it  in  his  lifetime  and 
it  must  come  to  pass.  I — I  am  afraid  sometimes." 

"Who  said  this?" 

"  One  who  heard  the  Messiah  utter  the  words. 
It  is  just;  they  slew  him  on  the  cross  ;  they  cried 
out :  *  His  blood  be  upon  us  and  upon  our  chil- 
dren !'  We  are  the  children." 

"Why  didst  thou  not  go  away  with  them?"  he 
demanded,  after  a  long  silence. 

"  I  ?  Oh,  I  could  not  leave  father  ;  he  does  not 
believe.  But  it  does  not  matter,"  she  said,  her  eyes 
brimming  over  with  sudden  joy;  "the  Lord  is  here ; 
he  will  take  care  of  us.  It  is  only  at  times  that  I 
fear — when  I  forget ;  if  I  pray  to  him  the  fear  goes 
away  at  once  and  I  am  happy  again.  The  good 
Bishop  also  remained  ;  he  is  not  afraid— ever ;  but 
I  am  only  a  foolish  maid  and  forget  often.  There 
were  also  Lesbia  and  Rachel  and  Rufus  and  many 
of  the  others  ;  they  stayed  that  they  might  care 
for  the  sick  and  old  who  could  not  go." 


THE  COMING  STORM  277 

"  Where  are  these  Nazarenes  ?" 

Merodah  shook  her  head.  "  I  do  not  know," 
she  said  sadly ;  "  my  father  sent  them  away  from 
here  after  a  time,  and  I  never  go  out  in  these  days. 
Perhaps  they  have  gone  also.  I — I  hope  that  they 
have." 

Phannias  was  thinking  of  this  conversation  as 
he  hurried  away  to  do  the  bidding  of  Ben  Ethan. 
"  It  is  true,"  he  thought  within  himself;  "  the  day 
of  reckoning  is  at  hand  !"  Words  of  frenzied  en- 
treaty to  the  God  of  Israel  rose  to  his  lips ;  but  he 
thrust  the  petition  back.  "  It  is  just,"  he  said  be- 
twixt his  teeth  ;  "  his  blood  is  upon  us — the  blood 
of  the  Messiah  !" 

He  paused  at  the  corner  of  a  square,  once  de- 
voted to  a  market  place,  and  looked  about  him. 
The  place  had  long  ago  been  swept  bare  of  its 
shops  and  booths,  as  had  most  of  the  similar 
quarters  of  the  city ;  the  dwellings  and  warehouses 
which  fronted  upon  it  had  been  gutted  by  fire, 
and  with  their  black,  eyeless  windows  and  crum- 
bling walls  lent  a  sinister  air  of  desolation  to  the 
scene.  Every  foot  of  ground  however  was  now 
occupied  with  the  paschal  pilgrims  and  their  bag- 
gage. The  shrill  voices  of  women,  and  the  loud 
crying  and  shouting  of  hundreds  of  children  filled 
the  air. 

"  They  will  leave  fast  enough  when  they  see  that 
our  walls  do  not  crumble  at  sight  of  four  legions !" 
one  woman  was  saying  to  another,  as  she  rocked 


278  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

her  baby  to  and  fro  in  her  arms.  "  Hush  thee — 
hush  thee,  little  one ;  the  Romans  will  never  get 
thee !  The  walls  of  Jerusalem  are  mighty — and 
we  are  safe  inside  !" 

Phannias  passed  on,  treading  carefully  amid 
the  heaped-up  bundles  and  the  crawling  babies. 
"  Canst  thou  tell  me  whether  they  will  kill  the 
passover  in  the  temple?"  he  asked,  accosting  a 
man  who  was  busy  arranging  a  rude  shelter  of 
sheepskin  coats  betwixt  the  hot  sun  and  the  head 
of  a  young  mother,  who  sat  nursing  her  baby 
against  one  of  the  ruined  stalls. 

The  man  paused  in  his  occupation  and  wiped 
the  sweat  from  his  forehead.  "Assuredly,  they 
will  kill  the  sacrifice  in  the  temple,"  he  said,  star- 
ing. "  Where  else  ?  I  am  going  there  now  with 
the  lamb,  as  soon  as  ever  I  make  the  mother  and 
the  babe  comfortable.  I  shall  be  glad  when  the 
Romans  get  them  away  ;  always  before  at  passover 
time  we  have  camped  in  the  gardens  without  the 
walls  where  it  is  cooler." 

"  Thinkest  thou  that  they  will  leave  then  ?" 

"Assuredly !"  And  this  timethe  stranger  strength- 
ened his  affirmation  by  a  great  oath.  "  Did  not 
the  Gentiles  fly  before  Israel  when  the  defenders 
of  the  holy  city  were  few.  Now  there  are  more 
than  twenty  thousand  fighting  men  upon  the  walls 
— to  say  nothing  of  scores  of  thousands  of  paschal 
pilgrims.  We  are  able  to  fight  the  Romans  were 
they  ten  times  as  many — ay,  and  destroy  them  ! 


THE  COMING  STORM.  279 

Remember  also  what  feast  we  celebrate,  man.  Wait 
you  till  to-morrow  night  and  see  what  will  befall 
yonder  heathen  company.  The  Angel  of  the  Lord 
hath  not  forgotten  how  to  wield  the  sword  !  While 
we  eat  the  passover,  staff  in  hand  and  girded  as  for 
journeying,  that  sword  will  descend ;  then  shall 
Israel  go  forth  and  fall  upon  the  prey. — Jehovah 
grant  that  I  get  my  share  of  the  booty,  for  I  am  a 
poor  man." 

Phannias  had  no  reply  for  this  confident  son  of 
Abraham ;  therefore  he  went  his  way,  thinking 
strange  thoughts.  "  These  men  did  not  slay  the 
Messiah,  why  then  must  the  punishment  come  upon 
them  ;  upon  the  women  also,  and  the  babes  ?" 

His  brow  grew  dark  again,  and  the  heart  in  his 
bosom  was  as  lead,  as  he  threaded  his  way  through 
streets  and  squares,  everywhere  elbowed  and  jostled 
by  throngs  of  excited  people,  who  were  surging  back 
and  forth  betwixt  the  temple  and  the  wretched  places 
where  they  had  camped  with  their  belongings. 

Everywhere  there  was  a  sound  of  the  wailing 
voices  of  children ;  thirsty  children  crying  for  water ; 
hungry  children  crying  for  bread ;  lost  children 
crying  for  their  mothers ;  tired  children  crying 
for  very  weariness  ;  and  everywhere  anxious-eyed 
women  were  feeding  and  hushing  and  holding  cups 
of  water  and  hurrying  to  and  fro  on  endless  errands, 
after  the  custom  of  women.  The  men,  after  the 
manner  of  their  kind,  sat  for  the  most  part  com- 
fortably in  the  shade  asleep ;  or  exchanged  wise 


28o  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

comments  with  their  fellows  on  the  strange  state 
of  affairs  without  and  within  the  walls. 

None  of  these  people,  Phannias  observed  with 
wonder,  displayed  any  alarm  ;  they  rather  endured 
their  obvious  discomfort  as  if  it  were  something  of 
short  duration,  and  therefore  not  worth  the  men- 
tioning. Here  and  there  a  hysterical  woman 
shrieked  out  that  she  could  not  bear  it ;  that  the 
Romans  would  break  in  upon  them  in  the  night. 
Such  weakness  called  forth  a  storm  of  reproaches 
mingled  with  stout-hearted  assurances  of  safety. 

"Hold  thy  peace,  woman ;"  bawled  the  wise 
male  relative  of  one  such  apprehensive  soul ;  "  hold 
thy  peace  and  attend  to  the  young  ones.  Am  / 
not  here  ?  and  will  /  not  protect  thee  ?  Besides, 
foolish  one,  the  walls  of  Jerusalem  were  notbuilded 
in  a  day;  neither  shall  they  be  destroyed  in  a  day." 
Which  indeed  was  a  true  saying,  and  not  less  ter- 
rible than  true. 

As  Phannias  approached  the  temple  platform,  he 
became  possessed  of  a  strong  desire  to  see  what 
was  going  on  outside  the  walls ;  he  therefore  re- 
traced his  steps  to  a  point  near  the  Palace  of  Agrippa, 
where  arose  the  magnificent  structure  called  the 
Tyropcean  Bridge.  This  bridge,  built  up  on  mighty 
arches  from  the  valley  beneath,  sustained  a  wide 
marble  causeway  which  connected  the  temple  plat- 
form with  the  palace  ;  from  it  one  could  obtain  an 
unobstructed  view  of  the  valleys  and  mountains 
without  the  walls.  There  were  few  people  here,  for, 


THE  COMING  STORM.  281 

more  than  once  in  the  past  months,  this  bridge  had 
been  the  scene  of  a  bloody  struggle  betwixt  the 
fierce  Zealots  under  Eleazar  and  the  soldiers  of 
Simon,  who  held  the  Upper  Town. 

Phannias,  intent  only  upon  his  purpose,  climbed 
to  the  top  of  the  balustrade  in  the  shadow  of  one 
of  the  towers  with  which  the  bridge  was  studded, 
and  looked  away  toward  the  Damascus  Gate.  The 
great  North  Road  stretched  away  through  blossom- 
ing gardens  and  orchards  over  the  crest  of  Scopus  ; 
not  even  a  fleck  marred  the  smooth  whiteness  of  its 
surface.  To  the  left  gleamed  the  Dragon  Pool, 
bright  as  a  bit  of  blue  heaven  set  in  the  silvery 
green  of  olive  orchards.  East  of  the  pool,  at  the 
edge  of  the  upper  Gihon  valley,  a  flutter  of  savage 
color,  a  glint  of  gold  and  the  raw  earth  thrown  up 
in  the  form  of  a  square,  betrayed  even  to  the  inex- 
perienced eyes  of  the  beholder  the  location  of  a 
Roman  camp.  On  the  opposite  side  of  the  deep 
valley  lay  a  second  and  much  larger  square,  from 
the  midst  of  which  streamed  a  banner  of  the  royal 
purple. 

Despite  his  conviction  that  the  city  was  doomed, 
Phannias  could  not  forbear  a  curl  of  the  lip  as  he 
glanced  from  the  comparatively  insignificant  spots 
on  the  mountain  side  to  the  great,  fortified  city  which 
lay  spread  out  at  his  feet.  Wall  within  wall,  of 
enormous  strength  and  thickness,  enclosed  the 
shining  heart  of  the  whole — the  temple  ;  while  at 
the  angles  of  the  outer  wall  rose  the  three  mighty 


282  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

towers  builded  by  the  great  Herod  during  his 
bloody  reign,  Phasaelus,  Hippicus  and  Mariamne. 
To  the  left  of  the  temple  and  connected  with  it  by 
two  lines  of  half-ruined  cloisters  lay  the  great  Ro- 
man fortress,  Antonia ;  and  still  further  to  the  left, 
overhanging  the  New  Town,  was  a  second  fortified 
castle,  Acra.  In  front  of  the  bridge  the  battle- 
mented  towers  of  the  Asmonean  Palace  looked 
haughtily  down  upon  the  crowded  Agra  ;  while  be- 
yond, surrounded  by  superb  mansions  and  gardens, 
Herod's  Palace — known  also  as  the  Praetorium,  a 
fortress  of  immense  strength,  standing  on  the  his- 
toric ground  once  occupied  by  the  castle  of  David, 
commanded  the  upper  Hinnom  valley. 

As  Phannias  gazed  upon  this  splendid  scene,  all 
the  ingrained  pride  of  race  awoke  within  him.  Jeru- 
salem, the  city  which  had  endured  from  generation 
to  generation — the  city  wherein  countless  prophets 
of  God  had  poured  forth  mysterious  messages  from 
the  unseen  !  Could  it  be  that  the  end  was  at  hand — 
because  the  son  of  a  carpenter  had  died  yonder 
upon  Calvary?  All  the  old  doubt  and  conflict 
closed  in  upon  him  once  more  like  a  cold,  impene- 
trable mist. 

He  looked  once  more  at  the  square  patches  of 
raw  earth,  about  which  swarmed  thousands  of  small 
red  figures  no  larger  than  ants  ;  he  knew  that  these 
small  red  objects  were  Roman  soldiers,  at  work 
fortifying  their  camps.  Then  he  turned  his  eyes 
toward  the  temple,  which  towered  into  the  intense 


THE  COMING  STORM.  283 

blue  of  the  spring  heavens,  as  it  were  a  mountain 
of  fire  and  snow.  To-morrow  they  would  cele- 
brate the  great  deliverance  from  Egypt.  Would 
not  the  God  who  had  brought  Israel  out  from 
bondage  with  a  strong  hand  and  an  outstretched 
arm  once  again  remember  his  people  ? 

The  uneasy  current  of  his  thoughts  was  inter- 
rupted by  a  caustic  voice  which  hailed  him  from 
the  bridge  ;  the  words  were  accompanied  by  a  prick 
from  the  point  of  a  naked  sword,  which  the  owner 
of  the  voice  brandished  in  his  right  hand.  "What 
doest  thou  here,  fellow  ?" 

Phannias  leaped  lightly  down  from  his  place  on 
the  balustrade,  and  eyed  the  intruder  upon  his 
meditations.  The  man  was  a  soldier  plainly  enough, 
and  in  a  truculent  frame  of  mind ;  for  he  repeated 
his  question  loudly,  again  flourishing  his  weapon 
in  an  unpleasantly  suggestive  manner. 

"  I  am  looking  at  the  city — and  at  the  Romans 
yonder." 

"Art  thou  a  soldier?" 

"No." 

"A  spy  then — from  the  temple!  By  the  Chel, 
thou  art  a  bold  knave.  We  make  short  work  of 
your  sort,  as  thou  shalt  see.  Thou  wilt  come  with 
me." 

"I  am  no  spy,  fellow,"  said  Phannias  indig- 
nantly. Whereat  the  other  thrust  his  tongue  into 
his  right  cheek  and  winked  rapidly  with  his  left 
eye.  "A  bold  knave,"  he  cried,  describing  a  great 


284  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

flourish  in  the  air  with  his  blade,  "but  no  very 
proper  liar.  Can  I  not  see  that  thou  art  clothed  in 
a  priest's  tunic  ?  A  bold  knave — a  blasphemous 
knave  !  We  shall  see  what  Bar-Gioras  hath  to  say 
to  thee !  Come  along  now,  or  I  will  thrust  thee 
through  and  drop  thy  carcass  into  the  valley." 


BAR-GIORAS.  285 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

BAR-GIORAS. 

SIMON  BAR-GIORAS,  for  the  moment  the 
most  powerful  man  in  the  distracted  city  of 
Jerusalem,  sat  in  one  of  the  chambers  of  the 
tower  of  Phasaelus  listening  to  the  reports  of  his 
captains. 

The  body  of  the  son  of  Gioras  resembled  the 
tower  in  which  he  sat,  in  that  it  was  tall,  squarely- 
built,  and  of  enormous  strength  and  thickness ; 
this  trunk  crowned  with  a  tawny,  lion-like  head, 
housed  the  soul  of  a  strange  being.  It  was  impos- 
sible to  despise  this  man ;  he  inspired  fear,  hatred, 
love ;  but  indifference — never.  Simon  Bar-Gioras 
believed  in  himself  first,  last,  and  absolutely.  Thus 
far  he  had  accomplished  his  purposes  without  devi- 
ation and  without  wavering.  For  this  reason,  if  for 
no  other,  he  was  confident  that  he  would  always  ac- 
complish them.  Men,  women,  cities,  kingdoms, 
appeared  to  him  but  as  chaff  to  be  swept  away  with 
a  motion  of  his  powerful  arm. 

Once  only  had  the  sword  penetrated  that  iron 
bosom.  In  the  same  year  in  which  Cestius  had 
besieged  Jerusalem,  the  Zealots,  too  cowardly  to 
meet  him  in  open  battle,  had  seized  upon  his  wife, 


286  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

as  she  passed  with  her  attendants  through  an  am- 
bushed pass  to  join  him  in  his  camp,  and  had  car- 
ried her  away  to  Jerusalem.  In  that  moment  the 
fate  of  the  temple  was  sealed;  Bar-Gioras  swept 
down  from  the  mountains  with  his  thousands,  fill- 
ing the  valleys  outside  the  city  with  a  murderous 
war-cloud  which  thundered  and  muttered  about  the 
walls  day  and  night.  As  for  those  who  ventuied 
beyond  the  gates  on  whatever  of  business  or 
pleasure,  they  returned  no  more,  save  as  ghastly 
specters,  eyeless  and  handless,  crying  out  in  their 
torments  the  words  which  Simon  had  traced  upon 
their  breasts  in  letters  of  blood  :  "  My  wife — my 
wife ;  give  me  back  my  wife  !" 

In  those  days  Simon  Bar-Gioras  made  a  great 
oath,  and  he  swore  it  by  the  only  name  he  respected 
above  his  own — that  of  Jehovah  of  Hosts,  that  un- 
less his  wife  should  be  returned  to  him  unharmed, 
he  would  straightway  make  of  that  proud  city  a 
desolate  ruin ;  that  of  all  her  inhabitants,  warriors 
and  women,  old  men  and  children,  young  men  and 
maidens,  there  should  not  remain  so  much  as  one 
to  repeat  the  story  of  his  great  wrong.  He  caused 
this  oath  to  be  written  in  letters  of  Hebrew,  and 
sent  it  to  the  chief  of  the  Zealots. 

His  enemies  took  counsel  together.  "  This 
man,"  said  one,  "will  perform  what  he  hath  sworn. 
Therefore  restore  the  woman  that  he  may  go  his 
way." 

Others  advised  that  she  be  put  to  death  and  her 


BAR-OIORAS.  287 

body  flung  from  the  walls.  "  Thus  shall  we  avenge 
those  whom  he  has  tortured  and  slain ;  as  for  the 
city,  neither  he  nor  any  man  is  able  to  take  it." 

In  the  end,  they  commanded  the  wife  of  Simon 
to  be  set  in  their  presence.  She  was  very  beautiful 
and  of  a  lofty  and  dauntless  carriage. 

"  Dost  thou  understand,  woman,  that  although 
thy  husband  rages  without  the  walls  like  a  lion 
bereft  of  his  mate,  he  cannot  save  thee  out  of  our 
hand  ?"  they  asked  her. 

"  Only  wild  beasts  and  cowards  make  war  upon 
women,"  she  answered  them  scornfully :  "  Slay 
me  if  ye  will ;  my  husband  is  able  to  avenge  me, 
and  he  will  avenge  me  speedily." 

"  We  do  not  fear  the  son  of  Gioras,"  they  replied. 
"  Jerusalem  is  ours,  and  no  man  can  prevail  against 
it.  Notwithstanding  all  this,  we  will  have  mercy 
upon  thee.  Go  thy  way,  and  say  this  to  Simon. 
Depart  out  of  Judaea  and  disband  thine  armies,  lest 
a  worse  punishment  fall  upon  thee." 

Then  they  set  the  woman  outside  the  gates  un- 
harmed, and  she  came  to  her  husband  and  told  him 
what  she  was  bidden.  Whereat  Simon  laughed, 
long  and  loud. 

"  I  will  depart,"  he  said,  "  but  I  will  also  return. 
And  thou,  beloved,  who  hast  been  a  captive  in 
Jerusalem  shall  reign  over  it  a  queen." 

Before  the  waning  of  the  moon — which  was  even 
then  at  the  full,  he  returned,  driving  before  him  into 
the  city  the  inhabitants  of  the  country  around,  which 


288  THE  CROSS  TRIUZLPHAXT. 

also  he  wasted  with  fire  and  the  sword  till  it  was 
bare  as  the  palm  of  his  naked  hand ;  then  he  en- 
camped with  fifteen  thousand  picked  men  under 
the  walls  of  Jerusalem. 

Now  within  the  gates  were  already  horrors  be- 
yond the  telling ;  all  semblance  of  law  and  order 
had  long  ago  vanished  from  the  distracted  city. 
The  Zealots  devoured  it  as  a  consuming  fire.  By 
night  a  flaming  sword  hung  above  it  in  the  heavens. 
The  dead  lay  unburicd  in  the  streets;  the  living 
cowered  in  their  desolate  homes,  scarce  daring  to 
lift  their  eyes  to  the  God  who  seemed  to  have  for- 
saken them.  During  this  time  the  iron  hand  of 
Rome  was  crushing  the  rebellious  Galilees  as  a 
man  crushes  an  empty  eggshell.  Jerusalem  like  a 
den  filled  with  rabid  beasts  was  left  for  the  nonce 
to  destroy  itself. 

Affairs  being  at  this  fearful  pass,  the  chief  priests 
resolved  as  a  last  desperate  resource  to  open  the 
gates  to  Simon.  "  The  son  of  Gioras  is  a  mighty 
warrior,"  said  the  high  priest — at  this  time  Matthias 
III.  ;  "he  will  protect  the  city  against  the  Zealots 
who  are  tearing  out  its  very  vitals.  Also,  he  will 
enable  us  to  withstand  the  Romans,  who  will  surely 
descend  upon  us  at  no  distant  day." 

They  carried  out  their  purpose ;  and  Simon 
Bar-Gioras  entered  Jerusalem  in  triumph  at  the 
head  of  his  troops.  The  people  greeted  him  as 
their  savior  and  deliverer.  "Jerusalem  is  saved  !" 
they  cried  in  transports  of  joy.  "  The  temple 


BAR-GIORAS.  289 

is  saved  !  Hail  to  the  son  of  Gioras  !  Hail  to  the 
conqueror !" 

Bar-Gioras  sneered  at  them  openly.  What  was 
Jerusalem  to  him,  save  a  citadel  from  whose  well- 
nigh  impregnable  walls  and  fortresses  he  meant 
presently  to  face  the  last  great  obstacle  to  his 
power.  He  was  already  the  uncrowned  king,  not 
only  of  Jerusalem,  but  of  all  the  surrounding  coun- 
tries over  which  he  had  swept  like  a  devastating 
whirlwind.  Rome  itself  was  but  a  rotten  shell  of 
its  former  greatness  ;  his  sword  should  pierce  that 
shell. 

He  found  that  the  Zealots  had  entrenched  them- 
selves under  their  two  hostile  leaders,  Eleazar  and 
John  of  Gischala,  in  the  temple  and  the  Lower  Town. 
Bar-Gioras  forthwith  took  undisputed  possession  of 
the  Upper  Town,  where  he  presently  installed  his 
wife  in  queenly  state  in  the  deserted  palace  of  the 
Herods. 

Some  terrible  months  followed,  during  which 
the  Assassin,  the  Tyrant,  and  the  Zealot,  as  Bar- 
Gioras,  John  of  Gischala  and  Eleazar  came  pres- 
ently to  be  called,  tore  each  other  like  rabid  dogs. 
The  clamor  of  their  deadly  conflicts  filled  the 
city  day  and  night.  Lust  and  murder  stalked  the 
streets  unveiled.  Granaries  were  burned;  prop- 
erty and  stores  of  all  kinds  were  wantonly  destroyed. 
The  courts  of  the  temple  resounded  with  blows  and 
curses ;  its  marble  floors  were  slippery  with  the 
blood  of  priests  and  worshipers  ;  the  stench  of  un- 

19 


290  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

buried  corpses  mingled  with  the  odor  of  incense ; 
for  the  fire  yet  burned  upon  the  great  altar,  and  at 
morning  and  evening  a  sacrifice  of  slain  beasts  was 
offered  before  the  desolate  sanctuary. 

There  had  now  been  peace  within  the  walls  for 
the  space  of  eight  days ;  the  combatants  sullenly 
watching  the  Romans  as  they  worked  upon  their 
fortified  camps,  to  the  east,  the  west  and  the  north 
of  the  city. 

On  the  fifth  day,  Bar-Gioras  sent  a  flag  of  truce 
to  John  of  Gischala  and  to  Eleazar,  with  a  message. 
"  Let  us  unite  to  crush  the  enemy  that  is  without," 
ran  the  words  of  this  writing.  "  Afterward  we  will 
resume  our  former  positions  and  fight  for  supremacy 
within  the  walls." 

The  crafty  Gischalan  agreed  to  this  proposition, 
reserving  to  himself  his  quarters  in  the  Lower  Town 
and  the  command  of  his  troops.  Eleazar  shut  up 
within  the  inner  temple  refused  to  make  answer.  It 
was  impossible  to  make  plans  for  the  defence  of  the 
city  till  he  should  be  dislodged  from  this  important 
position. 

It  was  this  question  that  Bar-Gioras  was  ponder- 
ing, as  he  sat  on  this  twelfth  day  of  April  in  the 
great  chamber  of  the  tower  of  Phasaelus. 

o 

One  of  his  captains,  Kimosh  by  name,  stood  be- 
fore him.  He  had  been  describing  to  his  chief  a 
skirmish  which  had  just  taken  place  between  the 
soldiers  of  the  Zealot  forces  and  the  Romans  of 
the  tenth  legion,  who  were  constructing  their  camp 


BAR-GIORAS.  291 

on  Olivet.  The  Jews  had  rushed  out  suddenly 
from  the  Women's  Gate  and  had  fallen  upon  the 
enemy  with  such  fury  that  they  had  all  but  cap- 
tured the  half-fortified  camp. 

Bar-Gioras  scowled.  "Fools!"  he  muttered, 
bringing  down  his  great  hand  upon  his  knee.  "  Had 
I  been  with  them,  we  should  have  cut  the  legion 
into  pieces." 

"  To-morrow  is  the  Passover,"  said  Kimosh  ten- 
tatively. 

"What  of  that?" 

"  The  Zealots  will  perforce  open  the  inner  tem- 
ple to  the  people." 

Simon  gnawed  his  beard  in  silence  for  a  full 
minute.  "  By  the  prophets !"  he  cried  loudly, 
throwing  himself  back  in  his  chair,  "thou  hast 
said !  Send  out  and  capture  a  priest  for  me  at 
once ;  I  must  know  more  of  the  inner  temple,  lest 
the  knaves  entrap  us." 

"  One  of  the  sentinels  on  the  Tyropcean  Bridge 
brought  in  a  certain  man  this  morning,"  said 
Kimosh  cautiously.  "  He  was  dressed  in  a  priest's 
tunic;  but  whether  or  no  he  be  priest " 

"  Fetch  him." 

"Who  art  thou?"  demanded  Bar-Gioras,  fixing 
his  piercing  eyes  upon  the  man,  who  was  shortly 
set  in  his  presence. 

"I  am  called  Phannias,"  answered  the  prisoner. 

"  Art  thou  a  priest  ?" 

"  No." 


292  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

"What  then — a  beggar?" 

Phannias  looked  into  the  fiery  eyes  of  the  Sicar 
chief.  "I  have  no  money,"  he  said;  "but  I  am 
not  a  beggar." 

"What  wast  thou  doing  on  the  Tyropcean?" 

"  I  went  there  to  see  the  Romans." 

"  Didst  thou  not  know  that  I  hold  the  bridge?" 

"  I  know  nothing  of  what  is  doing  in  Jeru- 
salem." 

Simon  ran  his  eye  over  the  stalwart  figure  before 
him.  "  What  of  the  priest's  tunic  thou  art  wear- 
ing?" he  asked,  with  rising  choler.  "Thou  art 
either  priest  or  spy." 

"  I  am  neither,"  said  Phannias  scowling.  "  The 
temple  is  no  longer  a  temple.  It  is  a  den  of  thieves 
and  murderers." 

Simon's  brow  cleared.  "This  den  shall  be 
purged,"  he  said.  "  Come  ;  thou  art  no  weakling 
to  play  either  priest  or  beggar ;  Jerusalem  will 
have  need  of  such  as  thou  before  yonder  Gentile 
dogs  be  scattered.  Serve  me." 

"And  if  I  refuse?" 

"  Thou  wilt  not  refuse  ;  I  know  men,  as  I  know 
myself;  I  am  never  mistaken.  Thou  wilt  serve  me  ; 
thou  wilt  serve  thy  country ;  'tis  one  and  the  same 
thing." 

Phannais  gazed  steadily  into  the  piercing  eyes 
of  the  man  before  him ;  he  was  irresistibly  drawn 
toward  this  Sicar  chief  by  an  influence  which  he 
neither  questioned  nor  understood.  He  felt  sud- 


BAR-GIORAS.  293 

denly  sure  that  life  spent  in  his  service  would  be 
satisfying.  "I  will  serve  thee,"  he  said  slowly; 
"  but  I  must  first  return  to  a  certain  house  in  the 
Agra." 

"  And  why  must  thou  do  this  ?" 

"  Because  I  have  promised  ;  I  will  go  and  return 
within  the  hour." 

The  Sicar  chief  raised  his  hand  imperiously. 
"  They  who  would  serve  Bar-Gioras  forget  their 
past,"  he  said  harshly.  "  Henceforth  thou  art  an- 
swerable to  no  man  save  me." 


294  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

"  LO,    I    AM    WITH    YOU    ALWAY  !" 

IN  the  old  house  by  the  gate,  a  little  maid 
watched  anxiously  for  Phannias,  from  her  post 
in  the  latticed  window  of  the  upper  room.  "  He 
will  come  before  the  setting  of  the  sun,"  she  whis- 
pered to  herself,  " — he  promised  it." 

When  the  sudden  dark  of  the  spring  night  fell 
like  a  curtain  over  the  narrow  street,  she  slipped 
from  the  window  seat  and  looked  about  the  great 
bare  chamber,  shivering  a  little  in  childish  fear. 
Then  she  dropped  to  her  knees  with  a  cry  of  joy  ; 
she  fancied  that  in  the  dusk  she  could  dimly  dis- 
cover the  compassionate  face  of  the  Christ,  who 
had  come  to  be  a  near  and  beloved  Presence. 

"Ah,  Master,  it  is  thou,"  she  whispered,  clasp- 
ing her  small  hands  ;  "  — and  I  had  again  forgotten 
that  thou  art  with  me  always !  Why  do  I  fear 
what  shall  happen  to  him  ?  Thou  dost  love  him, 
dear  Jesus,  even  more  than  I."  At  that  she  hid 
her  face  in  her  hands,  abashed  at  her  own  innocent 
confession.  "  Yet  it  is  right  and  beautiful  to  love 
every  one,"  she  murmured — half  to  herself,  half  to 
the  brooding  Presence  which  never  failed  to  under- 
stand her  inmost  thought.  So  ran  the  mingled  cur- 


"LO,  I  AM  WITH  YOU  ALWAY!"  295 

rent  of  praise  and  petition,  pure  and  untainted  as 
a  mountain  stream ;  sometimes  spoken  joyously 
aloud ;  again  dropping  to  a  low  whisper  of  tender 
confidence. 

This  was  not  prayer  ;  ah  no.  To  pray  to  Jeho- 
vah, the  lawgiver  of  Sinai,  girt  with  awful  light- 
nings ;  seated  aloft  on  a  vast  throne  in  the  shining 
immensity  of  the  unknown  heavens — the  King 
of  kings,  oftentimes  burning  with  anger,  terrible, 
swift,  merciless  ; — to  pray  to  this  God  of  Israel, 
one  must  stand  with  bowed  head  and  face  turned 
toward  the  sanctuary.  There  must  be  ablutions 
and  a  fringed  garment  fashioned  according  to  law ; 
many  words  also,  both  long  and  difficult  of  utter- 
ance, must  be  said  in  a  loud  voice.  And,  after  all, 
it  was  not  becoming  for  a  woman  to  trouble  the 
ear  of  the  Maker  of  the  Universe  too  often  ;  she 
knew  this  right  well.  To  the  august  head  of  the 
family  belonged  the  sacred  prerogative  of  prayer — 
with  other  divinely  appointed  functions.  For  a 
woman  obedience  only  was  necessary. 

But  to  Jesus  of  Nazareth  one  might  speak  freely  ; 
he  had  never  rebuked  the  women  who  came  to 
him  with  their  troubles.  Never  once  had  he  re- 
fused to  help  them.  Merodah  remembered  the 
story  of  the  widow  of  Nain  ;  of  the  woman  bowed 
to  the  earth  with  a  spirit  of  infirmity  ;  of  the  sisters 
of  Bethany  ;  of  the  Gentile  mother  of  Syrophenicia  ; 
of  the  daughter  of  Jairus.  All  these  and  many 
other  wonderful  tales  of  the  goodness  of  the  Mes- 


296  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

siah  to  women  and  children  had  been  told  her  by 
the  Christians  who  had  once  gathered  in  that  upper 
room.  No  one  was  too  poor,  no  one  too  ignorant, 
no  one  too  sinful,  to  come  freely  to  the  Christ, 
who  had  lived  and  suffered  and  died  that  the  poor, 
the  ignorant  and  the  sinful  might  be  saved.  Was 
it  not  a  beautiful  belief  to  carry  in  one's  breast  ? — 
beautiful  and  delightful  beyond  expression  to  be 
able  to  speak  to  this  Jesus  whenever  one  would ! 

The  girl  became  so  absorbed  in  her  happy 
thoughts  that  she  did  not  hear  the  sound  of 
stealthy  feet  on  the  stair.  Ben  Ethan  had  missed 
his  daughter  from  her  accustomed  place  in  the 
dreary  house.  "  She  is  spying  into  what  does  not 
belong  to  her,"  he  muttered  to  himself  with  angry 
suspicion.  "  Yes,  I  am  sure  of  it ;  she  has  made 
some  compact  with  the  beggar  who  has  been  devour- 
ing my  substance.  Together  they  will  strip  me  of 
everything — everything  !  Merodah  !"  he  called 
sharply,  dashing  the  cold  drops  from  his  forehead. 
"  But  no — I  will  not  call  the  wench  ;  she  shall  not 
suspect.  I  will  catch  them  together ;  and  then — " 
He  felt  for  the  knife,  which  he  carried  always  in 
these  days  hidden  beneath  his  ragged  garments. 
It  was  there. 

In  the  upper  chamber  he  heard  the  low  murmur 
of  a  voice.  "Ah — the  hussy  !"  he  muttered.  "  It 
is  by  the  outside  stairway  then  that  she  will  re- 
ceive a  thief  into  my  house !"  He  stooped  cau- 
tiously and  applied  his  ear  to  the  half-closed  door. 


"LO,  I  AM  WITH  YOU  ALWAY!"  297 

"  There  is  also  my  father," —  were  the  words 
which  floated  out  to  him — "  thou  knowest,  dear 
Master,  how  wise  he  is  and  how  carefully  he  ob- 
serves the  law ;  yet  I  am  afraid  in  his  presence  at 
times ;  and  to-day  I  even  doubted  whether — " 
The  words  died  away  in  a  low,  indistinguishable 
murmur. 

Ben  Ethan  stole  into  the  room  noiselessly  and 
approached  the  window ;  the  dim  light  from  the 
crescent  moon  streamed  through  the  lattice,  and 
shone  faintly  on  the  bowed  figure  of  his  daughter. 

He  grasped  her  roughly  by  the  shoulder. 

"Father!   Dear  father!   How  you  frightened  me!" 

"  What  art  thou  doing  here  ?" 

"  I  ?  I — was  thinking,  dear  father, — of  many 
things.  Shall  I — yes  ;  it  is  true — I  quite  forgot  to 
make  ready  the  grain  for  to-morrow's  baking  !  I 
will  go  at  once." 

"  Thinking  always  of  food — like  the  glutton  that 
thou  art!"  snarled  Ben  Ethan.  "  But  stay,  woman, 
to  whom  wert  thou  speaking  as  I  came  up  the  stair  ? 
— Do  not  deny  it ;  I  heard  thee." 

Merodah  drew  a  quick  breath  ;  her  trembling 
hands  sought  her  loud-beating  heart. 

"Answer!" 

"  I  was  speaking — to — Jesus  of  Nazareth." 

"  What !— Thou  ?" 

"  Yes,  father  ;  I  believe  that  Jesus  was  the  Mes- 
siah. I  should  have  told  thee  before  ;  but — I  was 
afraid." 


2o8  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

There  was  a  breathless  silence  in  the  room  for 
the  space  of  a  minute ;  then  a  terrible  look  crept 
over  the  face  of  the  man ;  the  darkness  mercifully 
hid  it  from  the  girl's  beseeching  eyes.  His  hand 
closed  upon  her  tender  arm. 

"Father!" 

"  Come." 

"  Dear  father — let  me  tell  thee  more  of  this  Jesus 
— I  beseech  of  thee  !  It  is  so  beautiful — so  blessed 
to  believe  !" 

"Come/" 

At  the  courtyard  door  Ben  Ethan  loosed  his 
hold  long  enough  to  unfasten  the  heavy  bars  which 
secured  it. 

"  Father !"  shrieked  the  girl,  throwing  herself 
half-fainting  at  his  knees.  "  Father  !  What — what 
are  you  going  to  do  with  me?" 

The  man  tore  away  the  clinging  hands  ;  then, 
without  a  word,  he  lifted  the  light  figure  and  thrust 
it  into  the  street. 

This  done  he  locked  and  double-barred  the  door 
and  went  into  his  house — alone. 


AN  OPEN  GATE.  299 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

AN    OPEN    GATE. 

PHANNIAS  found  himself  a  close  prisoner  in 
the  barracks  of  the  Praetorium.  Kimosh, 
the  officer  in  command,  had  evidently  received 
some  special  orders  concerning  the  newcomer,  for 
after  furnishing  him  with  the  rough  clothing  of  a 
common  soldier  he  caused  him  to  be  locked  up 
securely  in  a  small  bare  chamber  off  the  guard- 
room. 

In  this  place  the  hours  dragged  slowly  by. 
There  was  ample  time  for  reflection,  but  after  a  lit- 
tle, reflection  became  an  active  torment ;  the  more 
Phannias  thought  of  his  past,  the  more  gloomy  and 
forbidding  did  his  future  appear  to  him.  "  I  am 
like  a  withered  branch,"  was  his  bitter  conclusion, 
"  driven  hither  and  yon  at  the  will  of  the  witless 
winds.  I  have  failed  in  everything  that  I  have  un- 
dertaken." 

Toward  evening  Bar-Gioras  sent  for  him  a  second 
time,  and  without  preamble  put  a  number  of  short, 
sharp  questions  concerning  the  structure  of  the 
inner  temple — its  courts,  corridors,  chambers  and 
subterranean  outlets. 

Phannias  answered  as  well  as  he  was  able  from 


3oo  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

his  limited  knowledge  of  the  once-sacred  pre- 
cincts. The  Sicar  chief  was  evidently  disappointed 
with  the  amount  of  information  which  he  had 
gained  ;  but  he  said  nothing  beyond  a  curt  word  of 
dismissal. 

"  Stay,"  said  Phannias  ;  "  I  also  have  a  question 
to  ask.  Why  am  I  a  prisoner?" 

Bar-Gioras  scowled.  "  Take  the  man  away," 
he  said  peremptorily,  "and  put  him  in  the  outer 
court." 

The  outer  court  proved  to  be  a  large,  gloomy 
enclosure,  paved  with  stone  and  surrounded  on  all 
sides  by  high,  blank  walls.  "  What  are  my  duties 
in  this  place?"  asked  Phannias  of  the  soldier  who 
had  conducted  him  thither. 

The  man  grinned.  "  What  you  see,"  he  replied 
briefly. 

"  I  see  nothing." 

"  Then  it  appears  that  thou  art  in  rare  luck. 
Sleep  and  be  idle.  If  that  does  not  suit,  the  more 
fool  thou."  The  sound  of  heavy  bolts  clattering 
into  place  on  the  outer  side  of  the  door  announced 
his  departure. 

Phannias  looked  about  him  with  care ;  to  be  a 
soldier  in  the  service  of  a  successful  general  was 
one  thing;  to  be  locked  up  like  a  criminal  was 
quite  another.  He  had  already  resolved  to  quit 
the  place  at  his  earliest  opportunity ;  that  the  op- 
portunity had  not  yet  presented  itself,  he  shortly 
assured  himself  by  a  careful  examination  of  the 


AN  OPEN  GATE.  301 

courtyard.  There  were  numerous  doors  sunken 
into  the  massive  walls  ;  all  were  securely  fastened. 
Plainly,  there  was  nothing  to  be  done  but  to  await 
further  developments. 

As  the  young  man  paced  restlessly  up  and  down 
the  confines  of  his  prison  he  reviewed  once  more 
his  hardly-gained  knowledge  of  the  mysterious 
Jesus  of  Nazareth.  His  vision  in  the  Holy  Place 
he  deliberately  set  aside  as  being  the  result  of  an 
overwrought  condition  of  mind  and  body.  Point 
by  point  he  compared  his  rabbinic  teachings  con- 
cerning the  long-expected  prince  with  what  he  had 
learned  of  the  slain  carpenter  of  Galilee.  The  re- 
membrance of  the  beautiful  child-faith  of  Merodah 
and  her  flower-like  face,  as  she  poured  forth  the 
story  of  the  cross,  brought  with  it  a  smile  and  sigh. 
"  It  is  a  tale  meet  for  credulous  women  and  chil- 
dren," he  thought ;  "  how  can  it  be  true?  The  de- 
clared mission  of  the  Messiah — as  set  forth  by  the 
Bible,  the  Talmud  and  the  Mishna — is  to  deliver 
Israel ;  this  man  of  Nazareth  not  only  failed  to  con- 
vince Israel  that  he  was  the  Messiah,  but  he  per- 
ished miserably,  having  accomplished  nothing, — 
nothing,  save  the  alleged  healing  of  a  few  sick  folk, 
most  of  whom  .are  already  dead.  He  possessed 
nothing.  He  left  nothing  behind  him  but  empty 
words, — which  the  next  generation  will  forget,  with 
the  man  and  his  accursed  cross." 

His  mind  reverted  to  the  strange  sayings  of  Ben 
Huna  on  the  day  of  his  return.  "  It  is  the  same 


302  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

story,"  he  said  aloud,  with  an  impatient  gesture ; 
"  one  and  all  of  them  insist  that  the  crucified  man 
is  still  alive — that  they  are  able  to  communicate 
with  him,  and  he  with  them.  Impossible  !  If  he 
be  alive,  why  does  he  not  appear  openly  and  de- 
mand the  allegiance  of  all  Israel — ay,  and  save  it 
gloriously  out  of  the  hand  of  the  Romans?" 

"  Speak  for  yourself,  friend,  to  this  Jesus  who 
was  dead  and  is  alive  again ;  he  will  himself  reveal 
to  thee  the  truth  so  that  thou  canst  not  gainsay  it." 
The  words  sounded  in  his  ear  as  though  spoken  by 
a  living  voice.  Who  had  said  this — and  when? 
He  shook  his  broad  shoulders  angrily :  Ah,  he 
remembered  now ;  it  was  the  Gentile  who  had 
helped  him  out  of  the  temple  wall.  Gentiles, 
women,  publicans,  fishermen — yes,  these  were  the 
believers  in  the  crucified  Nazarenc. 

It  seemed  to  him  further — as  he  drifted  idly  upon 
the  unhappy  current  of  his  thoughts,  that  the  Gali- 
lean had  met  and  thwarted  him  at  every  point  of 
his  career,  as  if  indeed  he  were  a  living  Presence. 

After  a  time  darkness  settled  softly  over  the 
place,  and  Phannias  looking  up  beheld  two  or 
three  bright  stars,  which  looked  down  at  him  from 
the  limitless  roof  of  his  prison  like  familiar  and  well- 
loved  eyes.  The  garden  at  Aphtha ;  his  mother's 
face — as  he  had  seen  it  last — white  and  full  of  fear, 
flashed  before  him  like  a  picture.  She  would  have 
died  to  save  her  child — he  knew  it  right  well.  With 
the  picture  came  certain  strange  words — words  of 


.4.V  OPEN  GATE.  303 

the  man  slain  upon  the  cross,  and  repeated  to  him 
by  the  daughter  of  Ben  Ethan.  Jesus  had  said 
these  words,  she  told  him,  to  a  very  wise  man — a 
rabbi  indeed,  who  afterward  believed.  "  As  Moses 
lifted  up  the  serpent  in  the  wilderness,  even  so 
must  the  Son  of  man  be  lifted  up,  that  whosoever 
believeth  in  Him  should  not  perish  but  have  eter- 
nal life.  For  God  so  loved  the  world  that  he  gave 
his  only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in 
him  should  not  perish  but  have  everlasting  life." 

Strange  words  indeed ;  did  the  man  then  know 
from  the  beginning  that  he  must  die  the  accursed 
death  ?  "  Lifted  up,"  as  the  brazen  serpent  on  the 
pole,  that  the  eyes  of  the  dying  Israelites,  prone 
upon  the  desert  sands  in  their  last  agonies  might 
rest  upon  it — life  for  a  look !  For  an  instant  the 
wonderful  significance  of  the  cross  blazed  before 
his  startled  eyes ;  then  he  hid  his  face  from  the 
light  with  a  loud  cry. 

A  sound  of  voices,  the  trampling  of  many  feet 
and  the  flaring  light  of  torches  announced  abruptly 
that  his  solitude  was  at  an  end.  Phannias  drew 
back  into  a  shadowy  corner  of  the  courtyard  that 
he  might  observe  the  newcomers,  himself  unno- 
ticed. There  were  at  least  fifty  of  them  and  in  the 
highest  spirits;  they  had  evidently  just  come  in 
from  a  successful  foray,  for  they  were  loaded  one 
and  all  with  booty. 

There  was  a  confused  shouting  for  fuel ;  for 
more  lights  ;  for  wine.  "  Here  you,  comrade,"  said 


304  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

one,  casting  a  careless  eye  upon  Phannias,  "  take 
your  axe  and  make  firewood  of  yonder  door,  while 
I  cut  up  the  meat  here  ready  for  roasting.  Pass- 
over lamb,  man  ;  my  mouth  waters  at  the  thought 
of  it!" 

Within  the  half  hour  every  man  of  the  fifty  was 
sprawling  before  a  roaring  fire,  busily  engaged  in 
roasting  a  great  piece  of  succulent  meat  which  he 
had  spitted  upon  his  sword.  No  one  had  ques- 
tioned the  presence  of  Phannias ;  he  could  have 
slipped  away  with  ease  through  any  one  of  a  half 
dozen  openings  which  the  ready  axes  of  the  hun- 
gry soldiers  had  made  in  his  prison ;  but  he  re- 
flected that  he  knew  nothing  of  the  interior  of  the 
palace,  and  that  he  was  more  than  likely  to  be 
caught  in  any  premature  attempt  at  escape. 

He  decided  to  remain  where  he  was,  and  boldly 
joined  a  group  near  an  open  door.  "  Just  in, 
comrades  ?"  he  asked,  affecting  a  yawn  ;  "  and  how 
went  it  outside?" 

The  soldier  next  him  dropped  his  meat  into  the 
flames,  then  swore  roundly  that  the  newcomer  had 
shaken  it  off.  "Come,"  he  roared,  "I'll  not  go 
supperless  to  sleep  after  such  a  fight;  get  me 
another  piece,  man,  or  I  swear  I  will  roast  ye  on 
my  spit!" 

"  There's  plenty  of  meat  in  the  corner  yonder," 
growled  another.  "  Take  what  thou  wilt  and  hold 
thy  peace. — We  got  the  temple,"  he  added,  glanc- 
ing carelessly  at  Phannias.  "  By  the  Chel,  it  was 


AN  OPEN  GATE.  305 

neatly  done  !  We  went  in  disguised  as  pilgrims — 
our  swords  hidden  beneath  our  cloaks — two  thou- 
sand strong ;  with  as  many  more  of  the  soldiers  of 
the  Gischalan.  The  Zealots  were  but  half  armed 
and  looking  for  nothing  save  the  slaughter  of  Pass- 
over lambs.  At  the  moment  when  the  priests 
beckoned  to  the  people  to  fall  upon  their  faces,  our 
chief  blew  a  single  blast  upon  the  trumpet.  It 
was  the  signal.  After  that  I  remember  nothing 
save  forcing  my  way  over  fallen  bodies  toward  the 
inner  temple.  It  was  all  done  within  the  hour ; 
Eleazar  and  his  men  slunk  like  foxes  into  their 
burrows  beneath  the  altar ;  but  they  came  out 
peaceably  enough  when  they  found  that  they  must 
surrender  or  die.  The  city  is  safe  now." 

"What  of  the  worshipers?"  asked  Phannias,  his 
voice  shaking  with  the  horror  he  could  not  conceal. 

"  There  are  some  six  or  seven  thousand  of  them 
who  will  eat  no  Passover,"  said  the  soldier  coolly. 
"  They  failed  to  understand  the  matter  and  got  in 
the  way  of  our  swords.  We  gathered  in  a  few 
lambs  as  we  came  out — all  neatly  dressed  and 
ready  for  the  spit.  Have  a  morsel,  comrade,  and 
a  cup  of  wine  to  celebrate  the  victory ! — Hail  to 
Bar-Gioras  !  Confusion  to  the  Romans  !" 

A  great  shout  greeted  this  cry,  and  the  mirth 
speedily  grew  fast  and  furious.  Phannias,  who  had 
drawn  back  again  into  the  shadow  sick  at  heart, 
gathered  from  the  chance  words  which  came  to  his 
ears  that  the  enemy  without  the  walls  were  actively 

20 


306  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

engaged  in  making  ready  for  the  siege ;  and  also 
that  an  attack  of  some  sort  was  planned  for  the 
following  day.  He  listened  to  the  rough  carousal 
which  followed  in  a  maze  of  unhappy  thought 
which  at  last  merged  into  heavy  slumber. 

The  first  faint  beams  of  morning  light  which 
struggled  into  the  murky  air  of  the  courtyard 
aroused  him  to  the  fact  that  the  day  of  the  Pass- 
over had  dawned.  The  great,  holy  feast  of  the 
Deliverance — how  eagerly  he  had  looked  forward 
to  it  in  the  happy  days  of  his  childhood.  He  looked 
about  him  with  a  shudder  of  fear  and  disgust.  The 
revelers  of  the  night  before  were  all  sleeping 
heavily  about  the  ashes  of  the  dead  fires ;  while 
heaps  of  bones,  empty  wine-skins  and  fragments  of 
half-eaten  meat  littered  the  filthy  stones  on  which 
they  lay.  At  the  sudden  bray  of  a  trumpet  in 
the  corridors  without,  the  man  nearest  Phannias 
raised  his  head.  "  What,  daylight  already !"  he 
cried  with  an  oath.  "  Come,  comrade,  help  me  to 
get  these  fellows  onto  their  feet ;  they  are  as  deaf 
as  the  dead  in  the  temple  yonder." 

Phannias  hesitated  for  an  instant ;  then  catching 
up  a  sword  and  shield  which  lay  within  reach,  he 
obeyed. 

Fifty  men  presently  filed  out  into  the  square  in 
front  of  the-  palace.  The  place  was  already  crowded 
with  troops.  Bar-Gioras,  armed  to  the  teeth  and 
surrounded  by  half  a  dozen  officers,  stood  upon  the 
raised  platform  known  as  the  judgment  seat.  He 


AN  OPEN  GATE.  307 

ran  his  piercing  eye  over  the  dense  mass  of  soldiers. 
"  The  city  is  ours,  men,"  he  said,  in  a  sonorous 
voice  that  sounded  in  every  ear  like  the  blast  of  a 
trumpet.  "The  enemy  within  is  subdued.  The 
enemy  without  must  also  be  faced  and  conquered. 
Will  you  follow  me?" 

"  Hail  to  Bar-Gioras  !"  shouted  a  strident  voice. 
The  cry  was  repeated  in  a  great  deafening  roar ; 
then  the  detachments  began  to  move  away  at  a 
rapid  pace. 

Phannias  found  himself  marching  in  the  front  of 
a  column  which  after  a  time  broke  into  a  confused 
mass,  as  it  plunged  into  the  dark,  narrow  streets  of 
the  New  Town.  He  understood  presently  that  the 
enemy  was  making  ready  to  attack  the  Third  Wall, 
between  the  Jaffa  gate  and  the  tower  of  Psephinus  ; 
and  also  that  the  populace,  horrified  by  the  massa- 
cre in  the  temple,  wished  to  surrender  the  city  be- 
fore the  siege  commenced. 

The  troops  had  come  to  a  standstill,  evidently 
awaiting  further  orders  from  their  chief.  These 
came  without  delay,  and  Phannias  was  astonished 
to  perceive  the  ponderous  gates,  before  which  his 
column  had  halted,  swing  wide,  and  to  find  the 
company,  of  which  he  was  an  insignificant  unit, 
rushing  out  into  the  face  of  a  Roman  battalion 
which  was  stationed  less  than  a  third  of  a  mile 
away. 

Voices  from  the  gate  towers  were  calling  upon 
the  Romans  to  draw  near.  "  We  are  ready  to  sub- 


308  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

mit !"  they  cried.  "  We  have  thrust  out  from  our 
gates  them  that  desire  war.  Draw  near  and  fall 
upon  them.  Then  enter  the  city  which  we  open 
freely." 

"Cowards!"  exclaimed  Phannias,  "what  does 
this  mean?" 

"  Hold  thy  peace,  fool,  and  observe  what  fol- 
lows," growled  the  man  next  him. 

A  number  of  rapid  maneuvers  ensued,  during 
which  Phannias  doggedly  followed  the  man  in 
front,  without  understanding  in  the  least  what  it  all 
meant;  their  company  advanced  impetuously  to- 
ward the  Romans,  as  if  to  attack  ;  then  fell  back  in 
disorder  beneath  the  shelter  of  the  walls,  only  to  re- 
ceive a  shower  of  stones  and  missiles  from  the 
towers  above  their  heads. 

Bewildered  as  he  was  by  the  apparent  folly  of 
the  officers  in  command,  Phannias  observed  in  these 
moments  a  thousand  details  which  he  afterward  re- 
called with  a  sense  of  wonder.  The  country  for 
miles  about  was  swarming  with  Roman  soldiers, 
who  were  busily  occupied  in  a  widespread  work  of 
destruction  ;  villas,  mansions  and  cottages  had  be- 
come blazing  heaps  of  ruins ;  blossoming  groves, 
vineyards  and  gardens  were  vanishing  under  the 
blows  of  thousands  of  axes.  Already  the  scene, 
which  but  the  day  before  had  presented  a  vision  of 
smiling  beauty,  had  assumed  the  haggard  aspect  of 
war  and  death. 

Between  the  city  and  the  scattered  soldiers  en 


AN  OPEN  GATE.  309 

gaged  in  this  work  of  devastation  were  drawn  up 
strong  bodies  of  troops.  One  of  these  battalions 
directly  faced  the  open  gate ;  at  a  single  blast  of 
the  trumpet  it  hurled  itself  forward  as  one  man, 
cleaving  the  irregular  masses  of  Jewish  troops  as  a 
sword  might  cleave  a  wave  of  the  sea.  But  like  a 
wave  of  the  sea  the  Jews  closed  in  behind  it  with 
loud  exultant  shouts.  Fresh  troops  issued  from 
the  city  where  they  had  been  lying  concealed ; 
while  from  the  towers  which  flanked  the  gate  a 
swift  avalanche  of  javelins,  stones  and  arrows 
poured  down  upon  the  heads  of  the  advancing 
Romans. 

Phannias  found  himself  fighting  fiercely  and 
shouting  like  a  demon  when  the  enemy,  demoral- 
ized by  the  suddenness  and  fury  of  the  attack, 
broke  rank  and  fell  back  in  wild  confusion.  A  Ro- 
man, who  had  turned  to  fly,  stumbled  and  fell  just 
before  him ;  he  drove  his  weapon  into  the  man's 
back  with  savage  joy.  A  blaze  of  scarlet,  and  a 
second  figure  loomed  suddenly  before  him  like  a 
swift  vengeance  ;  death  looked  out  of  the  savage 
eyes ;  then  the  lids  dropped.  Another — and  yet 
another !  He  felt  suddenly  that  he  could  kill  them 
all — all  those  insignificant  scarlet  figures  which  he 
saw  just  ahead  on  Scopus,  running  hither  and  yon 
like  frightened  ants. 

Some  one  shouted  in  his  ear ;  then  a  compelling 
hand  caught  him  by  the  arm.  He  turned  with  a 
savage  imprecation  to  find  the  lion  head  of  Bar- 


3io  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

Gioras  at  his  shoulder.  "  Back,  man, — back  to  the 
gates  !  We  shall  be  cut  off!" 

An  hour  later  the  victorious  troops  were  reas- 
sembled in  the  square  of  the  Praetorium.  The  Sicar 
chief  himself  reviewed  them  carefully,  company  by 
company.  "  We  have  lost  scarce  twenty  men,"  he 
announced  to  the  officers  who  walked  at  his  side  ; 
"while  more  than  a  hundred  dead  Romans  lie 
without  the  walls."  His  keen  eyes  swept  the  ranks 
with  a  well-satisfied  air,  which  penetrated  to  the 
breast  of  every  man  who  beheld  it.  Those  strange, 
colorless  eyes — transparent  windows,  as  it  were, 
through  which  the  will  of  the  man  looked  out  un- 
hindered— rested  full  upon  a  certain  man  in  the 
front  of  a  company  which  had  once  been  fifty. 
"  Stand  forth,"  he  said. 

The  man  obeyed. 

"  How  came  you  in  this  company  ?" 

"  I  was  a  prisoner  within ;  this  company  spent 
the  night  in  the  place  where  I  was  imprisoned.  In 
the  morning  when  they  went  forth,  I  also  went ;  no 
man  questioned  me." 

"I  commanded  the  prison  till  thy  words  concerning 
the  temple  should  be  made  good.  They  have  been 
made  good.  Also,  thou  hast  proved  that  thou  art  a 
brave  man.  The  captain  of  this  company  lies  without 
the  walls;  henceforth  thou  art  captain  in  his  room." 

Phannias  raised  his  head  proudly ;  his  eyes 
kindled  into  flame.  It  was  worth  while  to  have 
lived,  if  only  to  die  for  this  master  of  men. 


THE  WISDOM  OF  FOOLS.  311 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 

THE   WISDOM    OF    FOOLS. 

BEN  ETHAN,  shut  into  his  ruinous  old  house 
like  a  spider  within  his  web,  paid  little  heed 
to  what  was  passing  in  the  city.  The  price  of 
grain  was  steadily  rising  and  that  fact  filled  his 
whole  horizon.  He  rubbed  his  dry  hands  glee- 
fully as  he  counted  his  bags.  "  Lord,  thou  hast 
been  gracious  unto  me,"  he  cried,  addressing  as 
from  long  habit  the  being  whom  he  supposed  be- 
nignantly  interested  in  his  personal  affairs.  "Surely, 
I  have  kept  thy  law,  and  observed  thy  statutes ; 
therefore  thou  hast  given  me  wisdom  above  my 
fellows." 

There  was  a  certain  difficulty  however  in  the 
matter  of  selling  ;  he  could  not  open  his  shop  with 
a  display  of  grain  bags.  There  were  always  the 
soldiers  to  be  considered,  though  these  were  seldom 
seen  in  the  upper  Agra  of  late  ;  Ben  Ethan  piously 
concluded  that  they  were  providentially  employed 
elsewhere  during  the  latter  weeks  of  April.  As  for 
the  stranger  within  the  gates,  he  was  already  rap- 
idly nearing  the  point  where  he  was  willing  to  part 
with  all  that  he  possessed  for  food. 

The  worthy  merchant  finally  hit  upon  a  plan  of 


312  THE  CEOSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

disposing  of  his  wares  which  proved  entirely  suc- 
cessful. Concealing  as  large  an  amount  of  grain 
about  his  ragged  clothing  as  he  could  conveniently 
carry,  he  sallied  forth  day  by  day  in  the  guise  of  a 
mendicant,  visiting  only  those  portions  of  the  city 
where  he  was  little  known,  and  disposing  of  his 
store  by  the  handful  among  the  foreign  Jews  who 
crowded  the  squares  and  market  places. 

He  set  out  on  such  an  expedition  one  morning 
in  early  May,  and  after  some  reflection  made  his 
way  into  Upper  Bezetha,  as  the  northeast  portion 
of  the  outer  city  was  called.  He  had  been  told 
on  the  previous  day  that  the  Romans  were  about 
to  attack  the  wall  near  the  Jaffa  gate ;  he  wished 
to  ascertain  the  truth  of  this  report.  If  the  outer 
walls  were  taken  the  people  must  perforce  crowd 
into  the  stronger  defenses  within. 

He  had  not  proceeded  far  on  his  way  when  he 
perceived  a  woman,  sitting  in  the  shadow  of  a  wall. 
She  was  hugging  a  sleeping  baby  to  her  breast ; 
while  several  half-naked  children  played  about  her 
in  the  sunshine,  as  careless  and  happy  as  sparrows. 
Ben  Ethan  approached  this  group  quietly  and  stood, 
leaning  on  his  staff,  regarding  the  mother  with 
speculative  eyes.  He  had  dealt  with  hundreds  of 
such  during  the  past  week. 

"Thou  art  blessed  of  Jehovah,  woman,"  he 
whined,  waving  his  lean  hand  with  an  expansive 
gesture  of  greeting.  "  Peace  be  with  thee,  mother 
of  sons." 


THE  WISDOM  OF  FOOLS.  313 

The  woman  looked  up.  "  I  have  nothing,"  she 
said  wearily,  "  — nothing.  My  children  hunger  for 
bread  which  I  cannot  give  them." 

"I  have  not  asked  for  alms.  Where  is  thy 
husband?" 

The  woman's  face  contracted  with  a  soundless 
sob.  "  He  is  dead — it  must  be  that  he  is  dead, 
since  he  does  not  return  to  us.  He  was  in  the 
temple  at  Passover  time." 

Ben  Ethan  raised  his  brows.  Then  he  smote  his 
breast  and  rolled  up  his  eyes  toward  heaven.  "  And 
did  he  leave  thee  no  money  with  which  to  buy  food 
for  the  little  ones  ?" 

"  I  had  my  necklace,"  replied  the  woman  dully  ; 
"  but  it  is  gone — all  is  gone.  My  God  !  What 
shall  I  do?"  Her  misery  overcame'  her  and  she 
sank  back  weeping  convulsively.  The  little  ones 
frightened  at  the  sound  gathered  about  her,  and  all 
burst  into  loud  crying. 

"  Go  away,  wicked  man  !"  cried  the  oldest  of  the 
brood  ;  "  go  away — I  will  hurt  you  with  a  stone  !" 

Ben  Ethan  turned  his  back  upon  the  group  with 
a  scowl.  There  was  no  business  to  be  done  here, 
and  time  was  money  in  these  days. 

He  wondered  a  little  as  he  made  his  way  toward 
the  nearest  market  place, — where  he  felt  tolerably 
sure  of  finding  customers,  as  to  what  had  become 
of  his  daughter.  He  had  quite  succeeded  in  con- 
vincing himself  long  before  this  of  his  own  entire 
blamelessness  in  the  matter.  "  The  girl  had  bias- 


314  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

phemed," — he  assured  himself  for  perhaps  the 
thousandth  time — "  She  was  undeniably  apostate. 
Now  if  I,  a  law-abiding  son  of  Abraham,  had  con- 
tinued to  feed  and  shelter  a  blasphemer  and  an 
apostate,  would  I  not  have  become  partaker  in  the 
guilt?  Being  therefore  blameless  in  the  eyes  of 
Jehovah,  was  it  not  meet  that  I  should  sacrifice  my 
daughter  to  the  law,  even  as  Abraham  offered  up 
his  son  Isaac  and  was  blessed  therefor  ?  God  will 
also  bless  me  because  I  have  done  this  thing." 

There  were  strange  sounds  to  be  heard  in  the 
Bezetha  on  this  bright  morning  in  the  Bloom 
month,  sounds  which  penetrated  even  to  the  dull 
ears  of  Ben  Ethan,  and  brought  him  at  last  to  a 
standstill  near  the  open  door  of  a  courtyard.  He 
drew  near  to  this  door  and  peered  in  ;  the  persons 
within,  women  chiefly,  were  making  hasty  prepara- 
tions for  flight — if  one  might  judge  by  the  huge 
bundle  of  goods  and  provisions  which  the  two 
men  of  the  party  were  already  loading  upon  their 
backs. 

"Whither  away,  neighbors?"  inquired  the  dealer 
in  grain,  inserting  his  hatchet-shaped  visage  into 
the  yard. 

The  woman  nearest  him  screamed  aloud.  "  Holy 
patriarchs — how  you  frightened  me  !" 

"  I  can  abide  nothing  more,"  she  whimpered  in 
reply  to  one  of  the  men,  who  had  ventured  a  sooth- 
ing remonstrance.  "  God  knows  I  am  ready  to 
swoon  with  terror, — and  the  children  !  Whatever 


THE  WISDOM  OF  FOOLS.  315 

shall  we  do  !"  She  screamed  again  as  one  de- 
mented, and  thrusting  her  fingers  into  her  ears 
rushed  into  the  street. 

The  mysterious  sounds  were  growing  momently 
louder — dull,  heavy,  crashing  blows,  recurring  with 
the  regularity  and  precision  of  a  machine.  There 
were  terrible  cries  too,  rising  from  the  northeast. 

"The  rams  are  at  work  again,"  cried  one  of  the 
men ;  "  go  you  after  the  mother,  boy  :  we  are 
coming  !" 

Ben  Ethan  looked  after  the  departing  group  ; 
he  was  half  minded  to  follow  them  ;  then  his  eye 
fell  upon  a  bright  object  which  one  of  them  had 
dropped  upon  the  stones  of  the  courtyard.  He 
picked  it  up  and  thrust  it  into  his  bosom  with  a 
chuckle.  "  The  heavens  rain  gold  in  these  days," 
he  muttered,  and  got  him  into  the  street  again.  It 
was  empty,  but  at  the  corner  below  he  perceived  a 
crowd  of  flying  figures  with  bundles  upon  their 
backs. 

The  loud,  terrified  crying  of  a  child  greeted  his 
ears  as  he  turned  into  a  narrow  alley  which  led  to- 
ward the  Gate  of  Ephraim  in  the  Broad  Wall.  Ben 
Ethan  had  by  this  time  determined  that  prudence 
demanded  his  immediate  return  to  the  Agra ;  he 
therefore  resented  the  positive  grasp  with  which  a 
small  brown  hand  clutched  at  a  corner  of  his  abba. 

"  Let  me  go,  boy,"  he  growled  angrily,  looking 
down  to  meet  the  gaze  of  a  pair  of  tearful  dark 
eyes. 


316  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

"  I  am  lame — I  cannot  walk,"  wailed  the  child, 
"  and  they  have  forgotten  me  !  Oh,  take  me  with 
you  !" 

"Am  I  a  beast  of  burden  then  to  carry  cripples 
— who  are  already  accursed  of  God?"  Ben  Ethan 
hurried  faster  than  ever  after  he  had  shaken  off  the 
small  brown  hand.  Something  in  the  imploring 
eyes  had  reminded  him  unpleasantly  of  Merodah. 
He  cursed  the  Romans  aloud  as  he  stumbled  over 
a  roll  of  sleeping-mats,  which  some  fugitive  had 
dropped  in  his  unreasoning  haste.  Also,  he  cursed 
all  soldiers,  dead  and  alive,  as  he  was  forced  to 
squeeze  himself  into  an  angle  of  the  wall  while  a 
troop  of  Sicars,  covered  with  dust  and  blood,  rushed 
by  ;  one  of  their  number  fell  almost  at  his  feet  and 
expired  without  a  struggle. 

"What  has  happened?"  he  demanded  of  the 
gatekeepers,  as  he  passed  through  into  the  inner 
city.  The  man  was  helping  to  close  one  of  the 
side  portals,  and  made  no  reply. 

"  Why  do  you  bar  the  gate  at  midday  ?"  shouted 
Ben  Ethan. 

The  keepers  had  made  fast  the  ponderous  bars 
now ;  one  of  them  turned  at  sound  of  the  strident 
voice.  "The  Third  Wall  has  fallen,"  he  said  with 
a  curse;  "the  Romans  are  in  Bezetha.  Jehovah 
save  us,  it  is  the  beginning  !" 

During  the  days  that  followed,  Ben  Ethan  divided 
his  time  pretty  equally  betwixt  the  transaction  of 
business, — which  had  never  been  more  prosperous, 


THE  WISDOM  OF  FOOLS.  317 

and  frenzied  entreaties  to  Jehovah  for  the  Second 
Wall,  against  which  the  Romans  had  already 
brought  up  their  heavy  engines  of  war.  If  this 
wall  went  down  before  the  terrible  rams,  the  enemy 
would  pour  into  the  defenseless  Agra ;  then  what 
would  become  of  his  precious  bags  of  grain  ?  This 
question  must  be  answered  and  at  once.  Already  the 
inhabitants  of  the  Inner  Low  Town  were  beginning 
to  pour  into  the  upper  portion  of  the  city,  doubly 
defended  by  the  almost  impregnable  heights  of 
Zion  and  Moriah. 

The  thunder  of  the  rams,  the  sound  of  rushing 
bodies  of  troops  and  the  clamor  of  conflict  filled  the 
air  night  and  day.  There  was  no  longer  any  doubt 
that  the  Second  Wall  was  doomed  ;  it  had  become 
a  question  of  hours ;  Ben  Ethan  paced  up  and 
down  the  courtyard  of  his  house  in  an  agony  of 
despair.  "  Have  I  not  kept  thy  laws  ?"  he  de- 
manded fiercely  of  his  deity.  "  Am  I  not  blame- 
less? And  must  I  be  ruined  because  of  these 
Gentiles  ?  Lord,  hast  thou  forgotten  Jerusalem  ? 
Wilt  thou  suffer  thy  holy  city  to  be  defiled  with  the 
feet  of  idolaters  ?" 

As  the  hours  went  by  and  there  was  no  answer 
to  these  frenzied  demands  upon  omnipotence,  he 
ventured  to  open  the  door  of  his  house  and  peer 
out  into  the  street.  A  soldier  turned  the  cor- 
ner at  a  run.  As  he  drew  near  Ben  Ethan  rec- 
ognized with  astonishment  the  man  whom  he  had 
hired  to  protect  his  property.  "Stop!"  he  cried 


3i8  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

out  with  an  air  of  authority.  "  Where  are  you 
going?" 

The  soldier  stopped  short.  "  I  have  found  you 
at  last,"  he  said,  "  — and  thank  God  in  time  !" 

"Found  me?  What  mean  you,  fellow;  did  I 
not  hire  thee  to  protect  my  property  ?  Where  hast 
thou  been  ? — Idling  away  thy  time  with  wine-bib- 
bers, I'll  warrant  me.  But  come  in — come  in ;  I 
will  say  no  more  at  present.  There  is  work  to  be 
done.  The  grain  must  be  moved  at  once.  It  is 
worth — Lord,  I  cannot  tell  what  it  is  worth  in  gold 
at  this  moment !  I  suppose  there  is  no  chance  of 
saving  the  wall  ?" 

Phannias  looked  about  the  bare  place  impatiently. 
"  Curse  the  grain  !"  he  cried  ;  "  this  is  no  time  to 
speak  of  gold.  Where  is  the  maid  ? — I  have  been 
here,  seeking  you  both,  many  times  in  the  past 
days ;  when  the  house  seemed  empty  each  time,  I 
hoped  you  were  already  safe  inside  the  defenses." 

"  But  the  grain,  fellow  !  I  tell  thee  that  people 
are  starving  !  I  will  not  leave  it  to  the  Romans — I 
swear  I  will  not  leave  it !" 

"  Thou  art  right ;  we  must  take  what  we  can," 
said  Phannias,  his  eyes  roving  about  with  ill-con- 
cealed impatience.  "  I  will  take  you  to  a  place  of 
safety,  afterward  I  will  fetch  my  men  ;  we  will  save 
what  we  can  of  it.  Call  the  maid  quickly ;  there 
is  no  time  to  be  lost !" 

Ben  Ethan  tore  at  his  ragged  garment  in  a 
frenzy.  "  Fetch  your  men  !"  he  echoed,  — "  call  a 


THE  WISDOM  OF  FOOLS.  319 

pack  of  rascally  thieves  to  take  away  my  property  ! 
'Tis  like  your  impudence  to  propose  such  a  thing ! 
It  must  be  carried  away  at  dead  of  night,  man ;  I 
will  hire  a  house  inside  where  to  bestow  it  in 
safety." 

"The  maid — the  maid!"  interrupted  Phannias, 
who  during  this  harangue  had  flung  open  door 
after  door.  "  Where  is  Merodah  ? — Answer." 

Ben  Ethan  shrank  back  into  a  corner  before  the 
fierce  eyes  of  his  questioner.  "  I — I  do  not  know," 
he  stammered.  "The  girl  has  left  me." 

"Where  has  she  gone?" 

"  I — I  cannot  tell. — But  what  right  hast  thou  to 
question  me,  fellow?  Wilt  thou  do  my  bidding 
concerning  the  grain  or  wilt  thou  not? — Sacred 
fire  !  What  a  crash  !  Now,  if  the  wall —  Mercy 
— Have  mercy  !"  His  eyes  started  from  his  head 
with  terror  before  the  gleaming  blade  of  the  sword, 
which  flashed  ominously  in  the  glaring  light  of 
noon. 

"  I  swear  I  will  slay  thee  on  the  instant  if  thou 
dost  not  answer  me,"  said  Phannias,  deadly  intent 
manifest  in  every  line  of  his  white  face.  "  What 
hast  thou  done  with  thy  daughter?" 

"  I  have  done  nothing — heaven  be  my  witness  ! 
I  caught  the  girl  praying  aloud  to  the  crucified 
malefactor,  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  She  has  gone  to 
her  own." 

"  To  the  Nazarenes  ?" 

"Thou  hast  spoken." 


320  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

"Where  are  they?" 

"  How  should  I  know.  The  girl  hath  forsaken 
me  in  my  old  age — left  me  alone,  as  thou  seest — 
to  consort  with  blasphemers.  And  now  thou,  my 
hired  servant,  who  shouldst  do  my  bidding  after  the 
law  of  such " 

Ben  Ethan  stopped  short ;  the  man  to  whom  he 
was  speaking  had  disappeared.  Words  of  execra- 
tion rushed  to  his  lips,  but  they  were  never  uttered  ; 
the  dull  monotonous  crash — crash  of  the  battering 
rams  had  suddenly  ceased.  There  were  loud  cries  ; 
the  sound  of  rushing  feet ;  then  silence — broken 
only  by  the  distant  notes  of  a  trumpet. 

Ben  Ethan's  face  became  the  color  of  clay. 
"The  wall  has  fallen,"  he  muttered.  He  stood  for 
a  moment  irresolute,  then  with  a  snarl  like  that  of  a 
hunted  animal  turned  and  plunged  into  his  cellars. 

The  darkness  and  silence  of  this  familiar  haunt 
exercised  a  soothing  influence  upon  his  disordered 
nerves.  Within  the  hour  he  succeeded  in  convinc- 
ing himself  that  in  this  underground  retreat  he  was 
quite  safe.  He  had  made  fast  the  doors  of  the 
place  from  within,  after  a  device  of  his  own  con- 
triving fashioned  in  the  days  of  the  civil  war.  He 
congratulated  himself  on  his  cunning  and  fore- 
thought, as  he  passed  from  room  to  room  of  the 
intricate  maze  of  chambers — in  some  places  lying 
one  below  the  other  in  the  very  bowels  of  the  rock, 
their  entrances  skilfully  concealed  from  the  eye 
of  the  casual  observer. 


THE  WISDOM  OF  FOOLS.  321 

The  more  he  considered  his  position  the  more 
confident  and  cheerful  did  he  become.  "  I  have 
food,"  he  said  aloud,  snapping  his  fingers,  "and 
wine — plenty  of  it.  Also  I  have  money.  But  no 
one  will  look  for  it  here.  There  is  nothing  above 
— absolutely  nothing.  It  is  the  house  of  a  poor 
man." 


21 


123.  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPLLIST. 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

A    MEETING   OF   THE   SANHEDRIM. 

TO  the  amazement  of  his  troops  Bar-Gioras 
ordered  an  instant  retreat  into  the  Upper 
Town,  as  soon  as  the  loud  crash  of  fallen  masonry 
announced  that  the  Second  Wall  had  fallen. 

Phannias,  who  found  himself  with  his  company 
under  the  direct  command  of  Bar-Gioras,  over- 
heard Kimosh  inquiring  of  his  chief  as  to  the 
meaning  of  this  maneuver.  "  The  breach  is  but  an 
insignificant  one,"  he  asserted;  "we  could  hold  it, 
— ay,  and  drive  them  back." 

Bar-Gioras  sneered  openly  at  this  remonstrance. 
"Thinkest  thou  that  I  am  afraid  of  the  Romans?" 
he  asked.  Then,  as  Kimosh  made  no  reply,  "  Wait 
for  a  day  before  you  question  me  further." 

Titus,  marveling  at  the  ease  with  which  he  had 
made  this  second  advance,  entered  the  breach  at 
the  head  of  a  thousand  picked  men  ;  and  meeting 
with  no  resistance  from  those  of  the  terrified  inhab- 
itants, who  had  been  unable  to  reach  the  Upper 
Town,  he  gave  his  men  leave  to  plunder,  ordering 
them  to  kill  no  one  save  those  who  resisted.  The 
soldiers  with  the  confidence  born  of  long-continued 
triumph  quickly  dispersed  among  the  narrow,  in- 


A  MEETING  OF  THE  SANHEDRIM.  323 

tricate  streets  of  the  Agra,  while  the  son  of  the 
emperor  with  his  officers  and  guards,  some  two 
hundred  heavily-armed  soldiers,  advanced  boldly 
into  the  market  place  of  the  wool  buyers,  there  to 
hold  a  council  of  war. 

The  Roman  commander  had  been  directed  to 
spare  the  city  and  the  temple  if  it  were  possible  ;  he 
therefore  determined  to  once  more  offer  advanta- 
geous terms  of  peace  to  its  defenders.  He  was  not 
ignorant  of  the  difficulties  and  dangers  which  would 
attend  a  continuation  of  the  siege.  "What  we 
have  already  accomplished,"  he  said,  "is  but  the 
stripping  of  the  outer  husk  from  the  nut ;  the  hard 
inner  shell  remains  to  be  cracked." 

These  and  other  matters  being  in  full  tide  of 
discussion,  a  long  strenuous  blast  of  the  trumpet 
followed  by  two  shorter  notes  announced  interrup- 
tion. 

Some  hundreds  of  quiet  figures  had  been  stealing 
along  the  dark  alleyways  leading  from  the  Old 
Wall ;  one  figure  always  in  advance  of  the  rest  ; 
now  pausing  like  a  stealthy  cat  under  a  dark  arch- 
way, now  clambering  through  the  ruins  of  some 
ancient  building,  again  running  swiftly  past  bright 
sun-lighted  squares.  This  figure,  huge,  threaten- 
ing, now  stood  on  the  confines  of  the  wool  mart. 
He  raised  his  hand,  and  the  whirlwind — which  had 
gathered  so  quietly  that  the  quick-eared  Roman 
sentries  had  heard  nothing  of  it — burst  forth. 

Twenty-four  hours  later,  Bar-Gioras,  breathing 


324  THE  CEOSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

deep-throated  curses,  stood  again  within  the  shelter 
of  the  Old  Wall.  "  I  have  failed,"  he  said. 

"  We  have  slain  no  fewer  than  five  hundred  of 
the  enemy,"  cried  Kimosh  boastfully  ;  "  we  all  but 
made  an  end  of  their  leader.  They  have  ceased 
fighting  because  they  are  afraid." 

Bar-Gioras  ground  his  teeth.  "  We  should  have 
slain  five  thousand  of  them,"  he  said  bitterly.  "As 
for  their  gilded  general,  I  held  him,  as  a  man  would 
hold  a  fly,  but  like  a  fly  he  escaped  out  of  my  hand 
ere  I  could  crush  him.  Their  gods  fight  for  them." 

Nevertheless  Simon,  and  with  him  John  of  Gis- 
chala  and  Eleazar,  the  Zealot,  united  in  stubbornly 
refusing  to  consider  the  question  of  surrender.  And 
this  despite  the  fact  that  their  granaries  were  so 
nearly  exhausted  that  rations  were  issued  to  the 
troops  but  once  in  three  days.  All  semblance  of 
military  discipline  was  now  at  an  end  ;  the  soldiers 
came  and  went  at  will,  depending  largely  upon  the 
wretched  inhabitants  of  the  city  for  their  food.  The 
methods  by  which  they  obtained  these  rations  be- 
came a  matter  of  horrible  ribaldry  in  camps  and 
barracks. 

Phannias  sought  out  Bar-Gioras  on  the  tower  of 
Hippicus  one  morning  in  early  summer.  There 
had  been  no  fighting  for  nearly  three  weeks. 

"What  is  to  be  the  end  of  this?"  he  asked 
abruptly. 

"Am  I  a  god?"  answered  the  Sicar. 

"  Thou   art  at  the  head  of  the  army  and  canst 


A  MEETING  OF  THE  SANHEDRIM.  325 

surrender  the  city  if  thou  wilt.  The  people  are 
starving  by  hundreds  and  by  thousands." 

"  Let  them  leave  then — or  die  ;  there  will  be  the 
more  food  for  those  that  remain." 

Phannias  was  silent  for  a  moment.  "  Look 
yonder,"  he  said  at  length  in  a  choked  voice ; 
"there  be  more  than  five  hundred  crosses  on 
Olivet,  each  bearing  the  starved  body  of  a  Jew, 
whom  famine  has  driven  beyond  the  walls.  The 
Roman  hath  set  them  there  for  thine  eyes." 

Bar-Gioras  laughed  aloud.  "  I  will  also  show 
thee  another  sight,"  he  said. 

The  two  descended  in  silence  to  the  level  of  the 
wall.  There  were  soldiers  there.  A  hundred 
paces  distant  a  battalion  of  Roman  troops  was 
working  upon  an  embankment. 

"Bring  out  the  traitors,"  commanded  Bar- 
Gioras. 

Other  soldiers  led  out  from  a  door  in  the  tower 
nineteen  men  in  chains.  They  were  emaciated  to 
a  horrible  degree. 

"Seven  days  since,"  said  Bar-Gioras  loudly, 
"these  men  were  caught  communicating  with  the 
enemy.  They  would  have  surrendered  the  city 
without  my  permission.  Matthias,  sometime  high 
priest  of  Israel,  thou  art  condemned  to  die  on  the 
walls  which  thou  art  too  cowardly  to  defend.  But 
thou  shalt  first  behold  the  death  of  thy  three  sons, 
who  were  with  thee  in  this  crime." 

Matthias  raised   his   haggard  face  to  the   sky. 


326  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

"And  it  was  I"  he  murmured,  "who  admitted  this 
monster  to  the  city !"  He  turned  his  eyes  upon 
the  Sicar,  with  a  gesture  full  of  dignity  and  pathos. 
"  I  am  ready  to  die,"  he  said  slowly.  "  I  shall 
haply  forget  the  misery  which  I  have  brought  upon 
my  family  and  my  nation.  But  these  men  who 
stand  with  me,  the  last  remaining  members  of  the 
holy  Sanhedrim  of  Israel ;  and  these,  my  young 
sons,  have  committed  no  crime.  Spare  them,  I 
beseech  thee,  as  thou  wouldst  thyself  be  spared  in 
the  day  of  thy  doom." 

Bar-Gioras  seemed  not  to  have  heard.  With  the 
careless  nod  of  one  who  dismisses  a  trifling  com- 
plainant, he  motioned  to  the  guard. 

The  three  young  men — scarcely  more  than 
boys — died  first ;  then  the  fifteen  members  of  the 
Sanhedrim,  without  a  protest — without  a  murmur. 
After  all  the  others  Matthias,  last  of  the  high- 
priestly  line,  bowed  his  gray  head  to  the  sword — 
and  was  gone. 

Bar-Gioras  had  surveyed  the  scene  without  a 
quiver  of  his  iron  visage.  "  Signal  to  the  Romans 
yonder  to  approach  within  hailing  distance,"  he 
ordered.  And  when  three  mail-clad  figures  had 
cautiously  approached  within  twenty  paces  of  the 
wall,  he  seized  the  ghastly  head  of  Matthias  and 
swung  it  aloft.  "  Bid  Titus  receive  these  noble 
Jews,  who  will  make  terms  with  him  for  the  sur- 
render !"  he  cried,  and  hurled  the  head  into  the  faces 
of  the  Romans. 


A  MEETING  OF  THE  SANHEDRIM.  327 

Phannias  felt  a  deadly  faintness  overpowering 
him.  In  the  blazing  heat  of  the  summer  noon  the 
figure  of  Bar-Gioras  loomed  monstrous,  horrible, 
before  his  dazed  eyes ;  the  sound  of  the  harsh  me- 
tallic voice  rang  dully  in  his  ears.  He  was  con- 
scious of  nothing  save  a  burning  hatred  for  this 
man,  whom  he  had  followed — ay,  and  loved,  for 
more  than  three  months.  Flinging  down  his  sword 
and  shield  in  the  midst  of  a  pool  of  blood,  he  stag- 
gered blindly  down  the  steep  stairway  which  led  to 
the  street. 


328  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

THE    BLACK    FAST. 

FOR  nearly  three  weeks  the  Romans  labored 
steadily  on  huge  embankments  confronting 
Antonia,  Hippicus,  Phasaelus  and  Mariamne.  The 
material  for  these  outworks  was  obtained  from  the 
Agra  itself;  in  the  course  of  ten  days  hundreds  of 
houses  were  torn  down,  and  the  vast  heaps  of 
debris  thus  accumulated  grew  as  if  by  magic  into 
ominous  mountains  over  against  the  frowning  towers 
which  they  threatened. 

This  work  was  not  carried  on  without  a  desper- 
ate resistance  on  the  part  of  the  Jews ;  the  soldiers 
of  Bar-Gioras  rained  a  spiteful  storm  of  stones  and 
javelins  from  their  engines,  captured  in  the  war 
against  Cestius ;  while  their  sharpshooters,  posted 
on  walls  and  battlements,  planted  their  arrows  with 
deadly  effect  among  the  toilers.  The  Zealots  were 
not  less  industrious,  though  they  were  not  visible 
to  the  enemy. 

Unlooked-for  results  followed  the  destruction  of 
certain  of  the  shabby  and  ancient  houses  of  the 
Agra.  It  was  as  though  some  populous  ant-hill 
had  been  suddenly  laid  bare  by  a  pitiless  foot. 
Hundreds  of  living  creatures  sprang  out  of  the  dark 


THE  SLACK  FAST.  329 

cellars  which  underlay  the  empty  houses,  and  ran 
shrieking  and  crying  hither  and  yon  like  distracted 
vermin.  The  soldiers  cut  down  the  flying  figures 
with  relish  ;  afterward,  they  searched  the  lairs 
from  which  they  had  risen. 

In  one  such  cellar  near  the  gate  Miphkad  were 
found  more  than  five  hundred  bags  of  grain ;  to- 
gether with  a  prodigious  store  of  cups,  plates, 
chains,  jewels  and  money.  The  centurion  who 
discovered  it  vowed  a  score  of  the  broad  gold 
pieces  to  the  goddess  Fortuna  on  the  spot.  "  The 
gods  love  me  !"  he  swore  with  a  great  oath  ;  "I 
have  had  nothing  but  good  fortune  of  late  !" 

The  grain  was  carried  to  Titus,  who  straightway 
added  it  to  the  rations  of  the  army.  As  for  the 
industrious  owner  of  this  particular  house  and 
treasure  ;  his  body  lay  in  the  cellars  which  he  had 
loved  more  than  his  own  flesh  and  blood.  Body 
and  cellars  alike  being  emptied  of  their  valuable 
contents,  they  were  never  again  disturbed  by  the 
hand  of  any  man,  whether  friend  or  foe. 

The  embankments  and  wooden  flanking-towers 
being  at  length  quite  finished,  the  Romans  pro- 
ceeded to  mount  their  great  engines  of  war ;  also 
some  hundreds  of  troops  took  up  a  position  ready 
for  the  attack.  It  was  confidently  hoped  that  with 
the  taking  of  Antonia,  Hippicus  and  Mariamne  all 
resistance  from  within  would  be  at  an  end. 

But  scarcely  had  the  first  stone  been  hurled  from 
the  Roman  ballistic,  when  a  series  of  ominous 


330  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

sounds  were  heard  from  beneath ;  the  embank- 
ments suddenly  collapsed  with  a  fearful  crash,  carry- 
ing towers,  engines  and  troops  with  them  ;  an  in- 
stant later  and  the  ruinous  mass  was  wrapped  in 
flames,  out  of  which  arose  the  wild  shrieks  of  the 
imprisoned  soldiers. 

From  the  walls  and  towers  of  Jerusalem,  other 
voices  pierced  the  murky  air  with  fierce  cries  of 
triumph  and  joy.  The  Zealot  chief,  leaving  the 
work  of  harassing  the  laborers  to  Bar-Gioras,  had 
undermined  the  wall  and  constructed  extensive 
galleries  and  chambers  directly  beneath  the  em- 
bankments. These  excavations  were  supported 
upon  timber  work,  which  at  the  last  was  smeared 
with  pitch,  then  set  on  fire. 

On  the  day  after  this  disaster  Titus  gathered  his 
officers  about  him  and  laid  before  them  three  plans 
for  the  capture  of  the  city ;  the  first  of  these  pro- 
posed to  take  the  walls  by  storm ;  the  second,  to 
rebuild  the  outworks ;  the  third,  to  establish  a 
strict  blockade,  thus  increasing  the  pressure  of  the 
famine  within,  which  it  was  said  had  already  slain 
upwards  of  six  hundred  thousand  of  the  Jews. 

This  third  project  was  decided  upon ;  and  no 
sooner  decided  upon  than  carried  into  execution. 
The  work  was  assigned  to  the  legions  in  shares  ;  it 
was  begun  at  once,  and  accomplished  with  incredible 
swiftness.  The  whole  army  was  already  maddened 
by  the  long-continued  and  obstinate  opposition  of 
the  starving  enemy ;  more  than  this,  they  were 


THE  EL  A  C7s"  FAST.  33 1 

determined  to  speedily  avenge  their  comrades  who 
had  lost  their  lives  in  the  burning  of  the  embank- 
ments. Legion  vied  with  legion ;  cohort  with  co- 
hort; decurion,  centurion,  tribune  and  even  general 
officers  labored  with  not  less  fury  than  the  common 
soldiers.  Titus  himself  surveyed  the  work  hour 
by  hour.  So  it  was  that  midnight  of  the  third  day 
beheld  a  trench  and  a  wall  of  wattled  earth,  five 
miles  in  length,  beginning  and  ending  at  the  tent 
of  Titus,  girdling  '  the  hemmed  and  famishing  Jeru- 
salem.' 

Thus  were  fulfilled  the  words  of  the  slain  Car- 
penter of  Nazareth :  "  The  days  shall  come  upon 
thee,  that  thine  enemies  shall  cast  a  trench  about 
thee,  and  compass  thee  round,  and  keep  thee  in 
on  every  side." 

But  the  end  was  not  yet. 

On  that  hot  and  breathless  midnight  which  saw 
the  wall  of  circumvallation  completed,  the  full 
moon  stared  down  out  of  a  brazen  sky,  ashamed 
and  afraid  at  the  scenes  her  pitiless  light  revealed. 
In  the  streets  of  the  city  lay  countless  dead,  which 
the  crowded  cemeteries  refused  to  harbor,  even  had 
the  living  been  able  to  cover  them  out  of  sight.  In 
closed  and  silent  houses  where  whole  families  had 
shut  themselves  in  with  their  misery ;  under  dark 
archways  and  in  foul  alleys  where  animal-like  they 
had  crawled  to  hide  their  death-throes ;  in  the  choked 
burial-places,  where  they  crouched  upon  the  graves 
of  the  fortunate  who  had  died  earlier  ;  on  the  roofs 


332  TUB  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

of  houses,  their  ghastly  faces  turned  toward  the 
shining  temple ;  in  open  squares  ;  on  street  cor- 
ners ;  in  every  possible  place,  in  every  possible  at- 
titude of  frozen  agony,  this  terrible  multitude  was 
gathering. 

As  fast  as  they  were  able  the  starving  soldiers, 
working  under  the  directions  of  Bar-Gioras,  carried 
the  dead  to  the  walls  and  cast  them  into  the  ravines 
without.  But  Famine  worked  yet  swifter  than  the 
soldiers ;  more  than  once  it  happened  that  he  who 
bore  a  burden  to  the  wall  was  himself  cast  with  it 
into  the  depths  below.  These  burden-bearers 
worked  silently  and  with  slow,  languid  movements  ; 
no  one  spoke  to  his  fellow.  There  was  no  longer 
clamor  of  any  kind  heard  in  the  streets ;  like  the 
houses  from  whose  closed  doors  and  windows  ex- 
haled the  terrible  effluvia  of  mortality,  the  city  pre- 
served an  ominous  silence  both  by  day  and  by 
night. 

Through  one  of  these  silent  streets  of  the  inner 
city  a  half-naked  figure  ran  swiftly;  the  Avhite 
moonlight  shone  clear  on  the  dark  heaps  which  lay 
here  and  there  in  his  path,  so  that  he  neither  paused 
nor  faltered  in  his  course.  On  and  on,  through 
street  and  alley,  through  square  and  market  place, 
he  ran  as  one  demented  ;  then  on  a  sudden,  without 
a  groan,  without  a  sigh,  the  swift  motion  ceased 
and  one  more  black  shadow  lay  motionless  in  the 
midst  of  the  white  moonlight.  There  were  two 
other  figures  moving  on  this  street — a  man  and  a 


THE  BLACK  FAST.  333 

woman.  The  woman  had  seen  the  swift  runner 
and  his  fall.  "We  must  look  to  this,"  she  said; 
"  I  have  still  water  left  in  my  pitcher." 

"  It  is  so  little  that  we  can  do,"  said  her  compan- 
ion sadly ;  "  and  thou  art  already  exhausted,  my 
child." 

The  woman  had  not  waited  to  hear  this  remon- 
strance ;  she  had  lifted  the  limp  head  of  the  fallen 
man.  "  We  must  do  what  we  can — to  the  end," 
she  said  gently,  and  poured  a  few  drops  of  water 
into  the  half-open  mouth.  Then  with  a  little  cry 
she  bent  to  look  more  narrowly  into  the  white  face. 

"What  is  it?"  asked  the  man,  also  stooping  to 
inspect  the  fallen  body  ;  then  he  started  back  with 
a  loud  exclamation.  "  It  is  Phannias — my  son 
Phannias  !  And  he  is  dead." 

"No,"  said  the  girl  quietly,  "he  is  not  dead — 
but  perhaps  dying.  Go,  call  help  ;  it  may  be  that 
we  can  yet  save  him." 

An  hour  later  the  starving  man  languidly  opened 
his  eyes  into  the  anxious  faces  which  bent  above 
him.  A  look  of  great  astonishment  and  joy  dawned 
in  their  depths,  then  he  again  sank  back  uncon- 
scious. 

It  was  little  enough  that  his  rescuers  could  do  to 
fan  the  flickering  flame  of  life  which  had  so  nearly 
gone  out ;  famine  had  laid  its  icy  touch  upon  one 
and  all  of  them  weeks  since  ;  but  love  is  a  compel- 
ling power,  and  by  degrees  Phannias  came  back 
again  into  a  full  realization  of  his  surroundings. 


334  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

The  faces  which  at  first  seemed  but  the  vague  im- 
aginings of  fevered  dreams  grew  at  length  pitifully 
distinct  in  their  wan  outlines.  On  the  third  day,  he 
pushed  away  with  decision  the  transparent  hand 
which  would  have  placed  a  morsel  of  bread  dipped 
in  water  between  his  parched  lips.  "  No — no,"  he 
said  ;  "  I  will  not  eat.  Thou  art  thyself  starving." 

"  No,"  said  the  girl,  smiling  through  her  tears, 
"truly,  I  am  not.  I  have  eaten. — To  think,"  she 
cried  in  rapture,  turning  to  the  others  in  the  room, 
"  he  has  already  the  strength  to  push  my  hand 
away.  Is  it  not  wonderful !  He  will  live  now ; 
will  he  not?" 

No  one  answered.  Who  could  say  in  the  midst 
of  that  carnival  of  death  that  any  one  would  live  ? 
The  girl  glanced  in  piteous  appeal  from  one  to  the 
other  of  the  ashen  faces.  "  The  Master  is  with  us," 
she  faltered.  "  Surely  you  do  not  doubt  it?" 

The  man  who  stood  on  the  other  side  of  the  bed 
looked  up  at  this  with  his  slow,  wise  smile.  "  Nay, 
my  daughter,  Merodah ;  we  have  not  forgotten ; 
but  there  is  also  a  more  glorious  life  beyond,  when 
this  mortal  shall  be  swallowed  up  of  immortality ; 
it  may  be  that  life  eternal  shall  dawn  for  every  one 
of  us  ere  long." 

Before  sunset  of  that  same  day  Phannias  learned 
more  fully  into  what  company  he  had  fallen  ;  he  had 
indeed  recognized  two  faces  of  the  many  which  had 
bent  above  him  in  loving  ministry,  but  the  others 
were  strange  to  him. 


THE  BLACK  FAST  335 

"  These  are  the  Christians  who  remained  behind 
in  Jerusalem  to  care  for  the  sick,"  Merodah  ex- 
plained to  him.  "Yes  truly,  my  Lord  was  with 
me  on  the  night  when  my  father  thrust  me  out  into 
the  street ;  he  led  me  straight  into  the  arms  of  the 
good  Lesbia  yonder." 

Phannias  was  pondering  a  word  of  hers  in  his 
weak  brain.  "  Didst  thou  say  that  thy  father 
thrust  thee  out  into  the  street?"  he  asked  pres- 
ently. 

"  I  was  speaking  aloud  to  the  Master,"  said  the 
girl  simply,  "and  he  heard  me.  He  did  not  be- 
lieve ;  to  him  I  was  no  better  than  a  blasphemer." 
Then  another  thought  came  to  her.  "  Hast  thou 
seen  him?"  she  asked  breathlessly;  "is  my  father 
safe  ?" 

Phannias  scowled.  "  I  saw  him — a  long  time 
ago,  before  the  falling  of  the  Second  Wall.  I  do 
not  know  what  has  become  of  him. — I  went  to  his 
house  to  save  you,  if  it  were  possible,"  he  added, 
in  answer  to  the  imploring  question  which  looked 
out  of  her  eyes  ;  "  he  was  there  alone  ;  he  refused 
to  leave  his  goods." 

Ben  Huna's  presence  with  the  Christians  of  Jeru- 
salem was  even  easier  of  explanation.  "  I  followed 
thee  to  the  temple,  my  son,  on  the  day  in  which 
the  Zealots  declared  thee  high  priest,  and  was 
wounded  in  the  terrible  massacre  which  followed. 
These  disciples  of  the  Master  ministered  to  me, 
and  I  have  remained  with  them  since.  They  told 


336  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

me  that  thou  wast  slain  within  the  hour  of  thy  in- 
vestiture," he  added  after  a  pause.  "  Yet  often 
have  I  gloried  in  the  thought  of  thy  testimony  to 
the  truth  in  that  terrible  hour." 

Phannias  moved  uneasily  upon  his  couch.  "  I 
was  mad  in  that  hour,"  he  said  weakly ;  "  I  knew 
not  what  my  lips  uttered."  Then  he  staggered  to 
his  feet.  "  If  ye  have  ministered  to  me,  suppos- 
ing that  I  am  of  your  number,  ye  have  erred ;  I 
do  not  believe — I  cannot  believe.  I — I  will  go 
now." 

Ben  Huna's  authoritative  hand  was  upon  his 
shoulder.  "  None  the  less  art  thou  one  for  whom 
Christ  died,"  he  said  slowly;  "and  therefore  dear 
to  us  all  and  beloved." 

After  a  little  they  told  him  how  all  through  the 
fearful  months  of  the  siege  they  had  ministered  as 
they  were  able  to  the  sufferers  about  them.  More 
especially  to  the  women  and  children,  on  whom  the 
burden  of  Israel's  sin  lay  heaviest. 

The  Bishop  had  fallen  peacefully  asleep  in  the 
earliest  days  of  summer,  and  they  had  laid  his 
worn  body  to  rest  with  tender  rejoicings  because 
that  he  was  spared  the  terrible  days  to  come.  His 
mantle  seemed  to  have  fallen  upon  Ben  Huna,  to 
whom  henceforth  they  turned  for  guidance  and 
direction.  The  good  rabbi  with  far-sighted  wisdom 
had  purchased,  immediately  after  his  arrival  in  the 
city,  a  large  supply  of  grain  and  other  provisions ; 
and  these  he  had  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the 


THE  BLACK  FAST.  337 

brave  workers.  Of  late  it  had  become  necessary 
to  dispense  this  chanty  with  extreme  caution ;  nay, 
in  spite  of  their  utmost  endeavor  their  gifts  to  the 
suffering  poor  had  more  than  once  been  followed  by 
appalling  consequences. 

A  poor  widow  who  had  been  accustomed  to 
come  to  them  daily  for  food  had  been  found  dying 
in  her  house,  surrounded  by  her  wailing  little  ones. 
Soldiers  had  broken  in,  she  told  them,  and  had 
taken  the  new-baked  bread.  After  they  had  de- 
voured it,  they  asked  her  where  she  had  obtained 
the  flour ;  this  she  refused  to  tell ;  whereat  they 
tortured  her  with  fire  and  the  sword. 

"  I  kept  the  faith,"  she  gasped,  with  a  smile  of 
triumph — and  died. 

"  We  can  do  little  now  beyond  soothing  the 
misery  of  the  dying,"  said  Ben  Huna.  "  Many 
drop  with  exhaustion  in  the  hot  glare  of  the  sun 
where  they  are  unable  to  obtain  water. — There  is 
still  water  in  abundance,  thanks  be  to  God  who 
hath  spared  us  this  final  agony." 

It  was  many  days  thereafter  before  Phannias  dis- 
covered that  his  generous  hosts  had  all  but  ex- 
hausted their  store  of  provisions ;  he  had  been  led 
to  suppose  that  they  were  prompted  by  worldly 
wisdom  to  eat  little  or  nothing,  in  order  that  they 
might  not  become  objects  of  suspicion  in  the  eyes 
of  the  soldiers,  who  were  by  this  time  more  terri- 
ble than  beasts  of  prey.  It  was  Rufus  who  re- 
vealed to  him  the  true  state  of  affairs. 


338  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

The  Greek  had  obtained  employment  as  a  ser- 
vant in  the  family  of  a  rich  Jew  from  Samaria,  who 
had  taken  up  his  residence  in  the  city  shortly  before 
the  appearance  of  the  Roman  army.  During  the 
earlier  days  of  the  siege  the  Christians  had  seen 
little  of  the  young  man,  who  nevertheless  failed  not 
to  bring  from  time  to  time  the  full  sum  of  his  wages 
to  add  to  the  common  store.  One  morning  late  in 
July  he  appeared  among  them  with  a  white,  agon- 
ized face. 

"My  master  is  dead,"  he  gasped;  "  and  of  his 
household  I  only  remain  alive  !" 

It  was  the  old  story  ;  the  house  of  the  Samaritan 
had  hitherto  escaped  plunder  by  reason  of  large  sums 
of  money  passed  over  day  by  day  to  Bar-Gioras, 
who  in  turn  detailed  a  special  guard  for  its  pro- 
tection. But  gold  rears  a  feeble  barrier  against 
death.  In  the  dead  of  night  Famine  and  Death 
entered  the  house  of  the  rich  man  hand  in  hand. 
"It  was  the  guard  who  did  it,"  cried  Rufus  ;  "shall 
one  set  starving  wolves  to  protect  a  store  of  food  ?" 

Toward  evening  this  new  member  of  the  house- 
hold went  away,  returning  in  the  morning  with  a 
handful  of  green  herbs  and  a  piece  of  fresh  meat ; 
this  contribution  was  received  with  joy  and  surprise 
by  the  women  and  shortly  converted  into  a  nour- 
ishing soup,  of  which  all  partook  with  thankfulness. 
Rufus  offered  no  explanation  as  to  the  source  from 
which  this  unlooked-for  provision  had  been  ob- 
tained, and  no  one  questioned  him. 


THE  BLACK  FAST.  339 

"The  good  Lord  sent  it  to  us,"  said  Merodah 
simply.  "  He  has  not  forgotten  us  ;  he  will  not 
forget.  Also  he  promised  that  the  days  should  be 
shortened  'for  the  elect's  sake.'  He  knew  that 
some  who  believed  would  be  here  ;  it  will  soon  be 
over  now." 

The  girl's  joyous  faith  was  like  sunshine  and 
fresh  air  to  the  somber  little  company.  They  took 
good  care  to  keep  the  more  frightful  incidents  of 
the  siege  from  her  ears  ;  of  late  she  had  been  per- 
suaded to  remain  much  within  doors,  and  she  did 
this  the  more  readily  since  the  good  Lesbia  fell  ill 
and  required  careful  nursing. 

"The  woman  is  near  her  end,"  said  Rufus  to 
Phannias,  as  the  two  young  men  walked  slowly 
down  the  quiet  street.  "  Of  the  others,  the  old 
man  from  Bethlehem  cannot  last  long.  I  would 
that  all  were  over, — that  we  slept  as  soundly  as 
does  this  poor  woman  and  her  babe."  He  paused 
as  he  spoke  to,  glance  at  the  white  peaceful  face  of 
a  dead  mother  who  still  clasped  her  child  to  her 
withered  breast. 

The  rams  had  begun  the  day  before  to  play 
against  the  walls  of  Antonia  and  their  dull  thunder 
filled  the  stagnant  air ;  a  haze  of  dust  obscured  the 
heavens  through  which  the  sun  stared  like  a  red 
eye ;  the  heat  was  intolerable. 

"  And  does  Jehovah  slay  women  and  children  by 
thousands  because  certain  scribes  and  Pharisees  a 
generation  since  crucified  the  carpenter's  son?" 


340  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

said  Phannias  thickly.  " — Nay,  hundreds  of  Jews 
have  rotted  on  the  accursed  tree  since  Passover ;  is 
it  not  enough?" 

Rufus  looked  apprehensively  into  the  face  of  his 
companion.  "  It  is  not  for  us  to  ask,"  he  began 
slowly  ;  then  he  stopped  short  and  looked  thought- 
fully up  and  down  the  street.  "  I  believe,"  he  said, 
"  that  the  end  is  near  ;  if  we  can  but  hold  out  a  few 
days  longer  ; — meantime,  upon  us  rests  the  sus- 
tenance of  the  household;  there  is  nothing  left  save  a 
handful  of  meal  and  a  cup  of  oil.  Go  thou  and  buy, 
if  thou  canst,  from  the  soldiers  of  Eleazar;  they  are 
still  strong  and  well  fed  from  the  temple  stores." 

"  I  have  no  money,"  said  Phannias. 

By  way  of  answer  the  Greek  held  out  a  full  purse. 
"  Fare  thee  well,  my  brother,"  he  said,  gazing  stead- 
fastly into  the  haggard  face  of  his  companion.  "If 
I  do  not  return,  look  to  their  welfare  as  thou  lovest 
thy  soul. — Take  care  of  the  little  maid  " — the  brave 
voice  faltered.  "  I — I  shall  not  come  back  unless 
I  succeed." 

"Where  art  thou  going?" 

"To  the  gate  ;  between  the  trench  and  the  wall 
there  are  still  green  herbs  to  be  had.  Also,  it  has 
happened  more  than  once  that  a  beast  of  burden 
from  the  Roman  lines  has  strayed  within  reach." 

"And  if  thou  art  taken?" 

The  Greek  made  a  rapid  sign  in  the  air. 

Phannias  shuddered.  "I  will  go  with  thee — 
thou  shalt  not  attempt  this  terrible  task  alone." 


THE  BLACK  FAST.  341 

"  Not  so,  my  friend  ;  I  have  accomplished  it  once 
in  safety.  Go  thou  to  the  temple  ;  there  is  a  chance 
— a  chance  that  thou  mayest  obtain  food  there. 
The  Lord  be  with  thee — Ay,  He  is  with  thee  now 
and  alway !" 

Phannias  stood  quite  still  for  a  time  watching  the 
retreating  figure  of  the  Greek.  Then  he  turned  his 
face  toward  the  temple,  whose  shining  towers 
gleamed  through  the  lurid  dust  with  the  unearthly 
beauty  of  a  dream. 


342  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 

A    MORE    EXCELLENT    WAY. 

BEFORE  taking  a  single  step  toward  the  tem- 
ple, Phannias  knew  that  to  seek  food  in  that 
direction  was  useless.  He  looked  dully  at  the 
purse  which  the  Greek  had  thrust  into  his  hand. 
"  It  is  of  less  value,"  he  muttered,  "  than  the  stones 
beneath  my  feet ;  what  man  will  sell  his  flesh  for 
gold  ?"  Nevertheless  he  concealed  the  purse  in  his 
girdle,  and  moved  resolutely  toward  the  Tyropcean 
Bridge. 

As  he  again  raised  his  eyes  to  the  commanding 
heights  of  Moriah  he  was  astonished  to  behold 
great  volumes  of  saffron-colored  vapor  pouring  out 
from  the  cloisters  of  Herod's  Porch.  The  colon- 
nades connecting  Antonia  with  the  temple  were 
also  smoking ;  and  now  scarlet  tongues  of  flame 
darted  up  through  the  billowing  masses  of  murky 
cloud. 

The  bridge  was  crowded  from  end  to  end  with  a 
ghastly  and  silent  multitude.  Here  and  there  one 
beat  feebly  upon  his  breast  as  he  gazed  upward ; 
few  had  strength  for  even  this  token  of  mourning, 
but  stared  motionless  with  lackluster  eyes.  Phan- 
nias accosted  one  of  these  ghostly  figures,  his  own 


A  MORE  EXCELLENT  WA  Y.  343 

voice  ringing  strange  and  hollow  in  his  ears. 
"  Has  the  temple  fallen  ?" 

The  man  to  whom  he  had  spoken  turned  his  face 
upon  his  questioner ;  his  parchment  lips,  stretched 
tightly  over  yellow  teeth,  widened  in  a  terrible 
smile.  "No,"  he  said;  "the  Zealots  themselves 
are  burning  the  cloisters.  Antonia  is  in  the  hands 
of  the  Gentiles." 

"  Four  walls  ;  the  temple  falls  !"  cried  out  a  harsh 
metallic  voice,  in  the  words  of  a  saying  current  in 
Jerusalem  from  time  immemorable. 

The  multitude  burst  into  a  low  wail  of  poignant 
anguish ;  at  the  sound  some  cast  themselves  over 
the  railing  of  the  bridge  into  the  valley  below ; 
others  sank  in  their  places  without  a  word.  Phan- 
nias  pushed  his  way  through  the  death-stricken, 
moaning  crowd  and  presently  found  himself  in  a 
steady  stream  of  humanity,  which  was  moving  up 
the  steep  incline  leading  to  the  temple  area. 

This  silent  and  slow-moving  procession  was 
frightful  to  look  upon ;  it  was  composed  of  men, 
women  and  children,  half-naked,  withered,  emaci- 
ated, leaden  hued ;  resembling  dead  bodies,  urged 
feebly  onward  by  some  power  outside  of  them- 
selves. It  poured  through  the  open  gates  into  the 
Court  of  the  Gentiles,  sweeping  onward  without 
pause  into  the  Women's  Court,  where  it  merged 
into  the  great  multitude  within.  This  multi- 
tude had  surged  upward  into  the  cloistered  cham- 
bers above  the  Court  of  Israel  and  inward  as  far  as 


344  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

the  great  altar,  which  rose  cold  and  bare  out  of  the 
seething,  struggling  masses  at  its  base.  Overhead 
the  rays  of  the  August  sun  beat  down  into  the 
murky  air  with  the  intolerable  fury  of  a  furnace 
seven  times  heated. 

Phannias  had  followed,  with  unmeaning  anxiety, 
a  tall  figure  whose  head  was  bound  about  Avith  a 
turban  of  snowy  whiteness,  which  shone  conspicu- 
ous in  the  midst  of  the  dust-begrimed  and  ragged 
multitude.  This  man  had  steadily  made  his  way 
into  the  Court  of  Israel ;  he  stopped  there  with  an 
air  of  determination.  Phannias  recognized  with  a 
shock  of  surprise  the  face  which  was  turned  toward 
him.  "Ben  Huna  !"  he  exclaimed  ;  "why  art  thou 
here  ?" 

The  old  man  looked  vacantly  at  his  questioner. 
"  Hast  thou  forgotten  that  this  is  the  day  of  mourn- 
ing for  Israel,  my  friend  ?"  he  replied,  in  his  old 
gentle  fashion.  He  seemed  not  to  have  recognized 
the  face  before  him. 

"  Do  you  not  know  me  ?"  cried  Phannias. 

Ben  Huna  shook  his  head  with  a  piteous  smile. 
"  I  have  known  so  many  persons  in  Jerusalem,"  he 
said  ;  "and  of  late  my  eyes  have  failed  me.  I  am 
an  old  man — an  old  man.  Thou  art  perhaps  better 
able  to  see  clearly,  my  friend ;  tell  me,  have  the 
Levites  assembled  as  yet  ?  I  cannot  hear  the  sound 
of  the  trumpets.  Nor  can  I  even  say  whether  the 
sacrifice  be  offered.  There  is  a  large  congregation 
to-day. — Ay,  it  is  well  that  Israel  should  humble 


A  MORE  EXCELLENT  WAY.  345 

itself  before  Jehovah  of  Hosts.  I  have  kept  the 
fast  for  many  days  now — for  many  days  ;  may  my 
sins  be  forgiven  me  !" 

Phannias  laid  hold  upon  his  master's  arm  with 
sudden  determination.  "  Come,"  he  said,  "  we  will 
go.  The  sacrifice  has  been  offered.  All  is  over. 
The  congregation  is  about  to  disperse." 

Ben  Huna  drew  back  with  evident  displeasure. 
"  I  perceive  that  thou  art  not  a  keeper  of  the  law," 
he  began ;  then  shook  his  head  sadly,  and  passed 
his  hand  wearily  over  his  eyes.  "  But  it  is  difficult 
for  the  young — a  long  and  difficult  lesson — the  law. 
I  would  that  there  were  an  easier  way.  I  have 
heard  something  of  late — but  it  has  escaped  me 
now.  An  easier  way — a  more  excellent  way — of 
cleansing." 

Phannias  hesitated  for  an  instant,  then  he  ap- 
proached his  lips  close  to  the  old  man's  ear  ;  words 
which  Ben  Huna  himself  had  repeated  in  his  hear- 
ing only  that  morning  suddenly  came  back  to  him. 
He  had  deemed  them  unmeaning,  impossible — 
almost  blasphemous,  but  now  as  he  looked  upon 
the  empty  altar,  and  the  crowd  of  death-stricken 
agonized  faces  which  surrounded  it,  they  took  on 
a  new  and  wonderful  significance.  He  repeated 
them  slowly — distinctly:  "The  blood  of  Jesus 
Christ,  his  Son,  cleanseth  us  from  all  sin." 

A  sudden  glory  of  joy  descended  upon  the  gray, 
ashen  face  of  the  listener.  "  '  The  blood  of  Jesus 
Christ — his  Son'  "  he  repeated  slowly,  "  f  cleanseth 


346  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

— us — -from  all  sin'  An  easier  way — a  more  ex- 
cellent way !" 

He  seemed  not  to  notice  that  Phannias  had 
passed  an  arm  about  him,  and  was  slowly  forcing 
a  passage  through  the  dense  multitude.  Not  far 
away  the  dull  impact  of  rams  hurling  themselves 
upon  unyielding  masses  of  masonry  could  be  heard  ; 
and  with  the  beat — beat  of  that  terrible  heart  of 
war  mingled  frightful  cries,  the  clash  of  swords  and 
the  savage  voices  of  trumpets.  The  smoke  was 
momently  growing  thicker,  and  the  sharp,  crackling 
sound  of  devouring  flames  arose  to  the  left  and 
right  of  the  Women's  Court. 

Ben  Huna  looked  about  him  with  a  sudden  gleam 
of  comprehension,  then  sank  back  white  and  breath- 
less upon  the  breast  of  Phannias. 

The  young  man  lifted  the  emaciated  form  in  his 
arms ;  for  the  moment  he  felt  all  his  old  strength 
swelling  within  his  veins.  Setting  his  teeth  hard, 
he  pressed  steadily  onward  step  by  step.  Sud- 
denly he  stopped  short ;  not  ten  paces  away,  mow- 
ing down  the  helpless  multitude  like  withered  grass, 
a  solid  column  of  Sicars  was  rushing  toward  the 
inner  temple.  Phannias  saw  and  recognized  the 
colorless  eyes  and  tawny  lion  head  of  their  leader ; 
Bar-Gioras  was  cursing  the  people,  as  he  cut  and 
thrust  among  the  groaning  crowd.  In  another  in- 
stant they  were  gone,  and  the  throng  closed  sul- 
lenly over  the  broad,  red  track  which  they  had  left 
behind  them. 


A  MORE  EXCELLENT  WAY.  347 

Phannias  found  himself  at  last  standing  before 
the  door  of  the  house  which  he  had  left  that  morn- 
ing. How  he  had  reached  this  door  he  did  not 
know ;  he  had  a  vague  remembrance  of  horrible 
faces  ;  of  blows,  cries,  curses  ;  of  flames  ;  of  stifling 
smoke;  of  red,  dripping  swords;  of  dazzling  sparks 
of  fire  floating  confusedly  before  his  eyes  ;  through 
it  all  he  had  clung  with  savage  tenderness  to  the 
burden  which  he  had  lifted — was  it  ages  or  moments 
since  ?  The  burden  stirred  feebly ;  he  dropped  it 
upon  the  threshold,  then  with  a  loud  cry  fell  against 
the  door. 

Ben  Huna  was  dying,  they  told  him  at  sunset ; 
with  difficulty  he  dragged  himself  to  the  bedside 
of  his  master.  The  face  on  the  pillow  was  calm 
and  peaceful ;  the  sunken  eyes  closed.  Phannias 
threw  himself  upon  his  knees  with  a  choking  sob. 

"  My  son," — the  low  tones  were  full  of  gentle 
authority,  as  in  the  old  days  ;  Phannias  involuntarily 
raised  his  head  to  listen.  "  There  is  but  one  law  " 
— went  on  the  failing  voice — "that  law  is  love. 
But  one  sacrifice ;  that  sacrifice  has  been  accom- 
plished on  the  cross.  But  one  way  of  cleansing ; 
that  way  is  the  blood  of  Jesus,  slain  for  the  sins  of 
the  world." 

There  was  a  long  silence,  broken  only  by  a 
tranquil  sigh.  The  wise  master  was  gone. 


348  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 


CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

VICTORY. 

ON  that  black  day  of  mourning,  observed 
through  six  centuries,  in  which  the  glorious 
building  of  Solomon  was  destroyed  by  Nebuchad- 
nezzar, King  of  Babylon,  the  temple  was  burned 
and  pillaged  by  the  Romans.  The  horrors  crowded 
into  that  terrible  fifth  of  August — the  day  of  the 
great  vintage  of  wrath,  cannot  be  recounted.  It 
had  been  decided  on  the  previous  day  in  a  solemn 
council  of  war  held  by  Titus  and  his  officers  that 
the  temple  must  be  spared  at  all  costs.  But  it  was 
not  so  written  in  the  inexorable  decrees  of  heaven : 
"  Verily  I  say  unto  you  that  there  shall  not  be  left 
here  one  stone  upon  another  which  shall  not  be 
cast  down."  This  was  the  sure  word  of  prophecy, 
and  it  was  fulfilled. 

A  common  soldier  of  the  Roman  line  was  the 
chosen  instrument  of  vengeance.  Shrieking  out 
curses  upon  the  heads  of  the  Jews  and  upon  their 
temple,  he  seized  a  flaming  brand  from  the  cloisters 
and  hurled  it  into  one  of  the  chambers  of  the  sanc- 
tuary. Instantly  the  flames  leapt  upon  their  prey ; 
within  the  hour  the  whole  magnificent  building  was 
burning  fiercely.  Titus  himself  rushed  to  the  spot, 


VICTORY.  349 

calling  loudly  upon  the  legionaries  to  extinguish 
the  fire ;  but  the  clamor  of  furious  voices,  the 
crackling  of  the  flames  and  the  groans  of  the  dying 
drowned  his  word  of  command.  The  steps  of  the 
great  altar  were  drenched  with  the  blood  of  the 
slain,  whose  bodies  lay  in  uncounted  hundreds  on 
and  about  it,  while  over  all  rolled  the  black,  shroud- 
ing smoke  of  the  perishing  sanctuary. 

In  the  light  of  those  terrible  flames  the  Romans 
fetched  their  eagles  ;  and  having  set  them  up  in  the 
sacred  precincts,  they  offered  sacrifices  to  their 
pagan  deities,  saluting  Titus  as  Imperator  with  ac- 
clamations of  joy  and  triumph. 

With  the  temple  fell  the  city  in  the  midst  of  that 
"great  tribulation"  of  blood  and  fire  and  death, 
"  such  as  was  not  since  the  beginning  of  the  world 
to  this  time — no,  nor  ever  shall  be."* 

But  the  days  were  shortened  "for  the  elect's 
sake,"  according  to  the  promise. 

*  Eleven  hundred  thousand  persons  are  said  to  have  per- 
ished during  the  siege,  while  nearly  a  hundred  thousand 
were  made  prisoners  at  the  time  of  the  taking  of  the  city. 
Of  these,  the  old  and  feeble  were  put  to  death  on  the  spot; 
numbers  of  the  strong  men  were  distributed  among  the 
provinces  for  gladiatorial  victims. — In  Caesarea  and  Berytus 
alone,  where,  shortly  after  the  downfall  of  Jerusalem,  the 
conqueror  celebrated  the  birthday  of  the  emperor  with  great 
magnificence,  no  fewer  than  four  thousand  of  these  Jewish 
captives  were  butchered  in  the  arenas.  All  of  the  other 
prisoners  were  sold  into  slavery  in  various  parts  of  the 
world. 


350  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

In  that  same  year  Rome  witnessed  the  final 
scene  in  this  drama  of  nations.  On  a  certain  day 
in  November  the  bright  autumnal  sunshine  shone 
gayly  on  miles  of  streets  blazing  with  life  and 
color ;  rich  stuffs,  flung  lavishly  from  doors  and 
windows,  festive  garlands  and  bunches  of  greeneiy 
were  interspersed  with  thousands  of  pennants  and 
banners  of  scarlet  and  purple  and  yellow  and  white, 
which  danced  and  fluttered  in  the  fresh  breeze  like 
joyous  spirits  of  victory. 

It  was  the  day  of  the  great  pageant  of  the  impe- 
rial triumph,  and  all  Rome  in  holiday  attire  and  in 
the  wildest  spirits  had  assembled  to  witness  it. 
The  country  folk  for  miles  about  had  been  pouring 
in  through  the  seven  and  thirty  gates  since  long 
before  daybreak.  Already  it  had  become  impos- 
sible for  anyone  to  so  much  as  set  foot  anywhere 
along  the  line  of  march,  for  the  eager  spectators 
filled  every  inch  of  available  space.  In  the  midst 
of  the  wide  streets,  gorgeously  appareled  marshals 
caracoled  up  and  down,  their  magnificent  horses 
appearing  fully  aware  of  the  important  part  they 
were  to  play  in  this  spectacle  of  human  grandeur. 
"Without  us" — they  seemed  to  say,  with  every 
toss  of  their  proud  heads — "this  could  not  be." 

From  the  garlanded  windows  and  balconies  of 
the  marble  palaces  which  lined  the  Via  Sacra, 
haughty  faces  looked  down  with  languid  interest 
upon  the  heads  of  the  ignoble  multitude.  From 
time  to  time  liveried  slaves  scattered  sweetmeats, 


VICTORY.  351 

fruits  and  small  coins  among  the  people  ;  interspers- 
ing, at  frequent  intervals,  these  tokens  of  patrician 
benevolence  with  lavish  showers  of  perfume,  in- 
tended to  overpower  the  vulgar  exhalations  of  the 
masses  which  tainted  the  exclusive  air  breathed  to- 
day by  rich  and  poor  alike. 

In  a  certain  dim  and  luxurious  chamber  in  one 
of  these  lofty  mansions,  a  woman  lay  half  reclined 
upon  a  couch  drawn  up  in  the  embrasure  of  a  win- 
dow. At  her  side  an  ingenious  arrangement  of  mir- 
rors enabled  her  to  view  the  street,  without  so  much 
as  raising  her  beautiful,  indolent  head  from  the 
cushions.  Great  masses  of  violets,  purple  and 
white,  in  golden  bowls  and  vases,  filled  the  air  with 
their  delicious  odor,  seeming  in  their  own  myste- 
rious way  to  diffuse  about  them  an  ethereal  atmos- 
phere of  joy  and  love ;  this  subtile  felicity  rested 
full  upon  the  face  by  the  window,  adding  to  its  ripe 
beauty  the  last  lingering  touch  of  perfection. 

At  the  foot  of  the  couch  stood  a  young  girl,  clad 
in  a  tunic  of  scarlet  and  white  and  wearing  about 
her  neck  a  ring-like  collar  of  red  gold.  She  was 
looking  eagerly  out  into  the  street,  her  small  hands 
tightly  clasped,  her  dark  eyes  full  of  fear  and 
anguish. 

Her  mistress  presently  observed  this  expression, 
and  it  seemed  to  displease  her.  "  How  now,  girl," 
she  said  with  a  slight  frown  ;  "  thou  hast  not  the 
look  that  I  would  see  on  those  that  serve  me. 
What  ails  thee  ?" 


352  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

The  girl  turned  her  head  wearily.  "  I  am  a 
slave,  princess,"  she  said.  "  My  city  is  in  ashes  ; 
my  friends  are  dead.  How  can  I  rejoice  ?" 

The  woman  on  the  couch  flung  out  her  hand 
with  a  little  impatient  gesture.  "  Thou  art  but  a 
witless  child,"  she  said  petulantly ;  "and  wert  thou 
not  so  beautiful  I  swear  I  would  send  thee  to  the 
slave-mart  to-morrow.  Did  I  not  snatch  thee 
from  starvation  and  death — or  worse,  as  one  would 
lift  a  lost  jewel  out  of  the  mire  ?  Thou  art  mine — 
body  and  soul ;  smile  therefore  and  be  happy. 
The  gods  have  been  gracious  to  me  and  I  am  no 
niggard — even  with  my  slaves.  Besides,  child,  I 
have  promised  to  remove  that  hated  ring  from  thy 
neck  on  my  wedding-day.  That  day  is  near  at 
hand."  She  smiled  as  she  spoke  the  last  words  ; 
then  sighed — the  deep-drawn,  rapturous  breath  of 
one  who  has  attained  triumph  after  long  and  ex- 
hausting effort. 

The  slave  girl  made  no  reply ;  her  eyes  were 
still  fixed  upon  the  street.  "  They  are  coming," 
she  said  at  length,  and  hung  her  head  that  her 
mistress  might  not  see  the  two  big  tears  which 
dropped  stealthily  into  her  bosom. 

A  sudden  roar  of  anticipation  and  delight  from 
the  waiting  spectators  mingled  with  the  distant 
notes  of  a  trumpet ;  then  the  clatter  of  hoofs  an- 
nounced the  approach  of  a  body  of  cavalry.  After 
the  cavalry  followed  a  company  of  musicians,  sing- 
ing and  playing  hymns  of  victory,  especially  com- 


VICTORY.  353 

posed  for  the  occasion  and  celebrating  the  deeds 
and  virtues  of  the  emperor  and  of  his  son,  Titus, 
Conqueror  of  Judaea,  "  the  darling  and  delight  of 
all  the  world." 

Berenice  repeated  the  words  softly.  "  The  dar- 
ling and  delight  of  all  the  world !"  Then  she 
smote  her  exquisite  rose-tinted  palms  together  with 
the  abandon  of  a  child.  "  Look,  Merodah,"  she 
cried,  "never  in  Jerusalem  did  thy  foolish  eyes 
behold  such  a  sight !" 

The  girl  stared  with  a  blank,  unseeing  gaze  at 
the  great  platforms  now  passing,  upon  which  mimic 
scenes  from  the  late  war  were  presented  with  won- 
derful accuracy.  Here  was  a  walled  town,  the 
battering  rams  playing  against  its  towers,  while 
battalions  of  pigmy  soldiers,  clad  in  the  uniform 
of  the  Roman  army,  were  engaged  in  the  various 
military  operations  of  a  siege.  Following  this  were 
other  cities,  towns,  fortresses — assaulted,  captured, 
in  flames,  the  inhabitants  vainly  supplicating  the 
victorious  and  remorseless  enemy.  Last  of  all 
came  a  vast  representation  of  the  city  of  Jerusalem, 
borne  by  more  than  a  hundred  men  ;  its  triple 
walls,  its  towers,  its  glittering  temple — in  flames 
and  overrun  with  Roman  troops.  Behind  this 
platform  walked  the  rival  generals,  Simon  Bar- 
Gioras  and  John  of  Gischala,  magnificently  attired 
and  loaded  with  chains.* 

*  Arrived  at  the  Capitol,  it  is  said  that  the  procession 
halted,  while  the  executioners  dragged  Simon  Bar-Gioras  to 

23 


354  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

The  multitude  burst  forth  into  a  roar  of  cheers 
and  applause,  in  the  midst  of  which  the  girl  at 
the  window  quietly  sank  to  the  floor.  Berenice 
motioned  to  the  slaves  who  waited  in  the  back- 
ground. "  Take  her  away,"  she  said  coldly.  Push- 
ing the  mirror  impatiently  to  one  side,  the  woman 
leaned  eagerly  forward  to  look  out.  Ships,  captured 
at  Joppa  and  Tarichaea,  mounted  on  wheeled  trucks 
and  laden  with  magnificent  spoils  of  every  descrip- 
tion, were  passing  now ;  and  following  them  came 
a  long  procession  of  priests,  leading  the  snow-white 
bulls  with  gilded  horns,  adorned  for  the  imperial 
sacrifices  with  garlands  and  fillets  of  scarlet  and 
purple.  Then  came  seven  hundred  Hebrew  youths, 
selected  from  among  the  prisoners  for  their  lofty 
stature  and  beauty  of  face ;  all  splendidly  dressed 
and  in  chains. 

Berenice's  black  brows  contracted  as  she  looked 
down  upon  her  fallen  countrymen ;  they  held  their 
heads  haughtily,  looking  neither  to  the  right  nor 
the  left,  seeming  unaware  of  the  insulting  words 
and  gestures  of  the  crowd.  A  company  of  lictors, 
having  their  fasces  wreathed  with  laurel,  followed 
hard  after  the  captives.  Then  in  slow  and  pompous 
fashion  came  persons  dressed  in  white,  bearing  the 
purple  Veils  of  the  Holy  of  Holies ;  the  golden 

the  place  of  death  in  the  Forum.     When  it  was  announced 
that  there  was  an  end  of  him,  the  multitude  gave  vent  to  a 
joyful  shout. 
John  of  Gischala  was  condemned  to  life  imprisonment. 


VICTORY.  355 

Table  of  the  Shew-Bread ;  the  seven-branched 
Candlestick — and  last  of  all  the  Book  of  the  Law. 

The  people  cried  out  afresh  at  sight  of  these 
trophies,  calling  with  loud  acclamations  upon  the 
powerful  gods  of  Rome  who  had  thus  triumphed 
gloriously  over  the  one  paltry  deity  of  Israel. 

The  woman  at  the  window  clenched  her  white 
hands  till  the  nails  penetrated  the  flesh.  "  He 
should  have  spared  me  this,"  she  muttered;  "he 
swore  upon  the  word  of  his  honor  that  yonder  holy 
things  should  not  be  further  desecrated !" 

Then  she  laughed  aloud — a  gay  triumphant 
laugh.  "But  what  care  I?  Henceforth  thy  people 
are  my  people  ;  thy  gods  my  gods.  Jehovah  is  a 
myth — a  dream,  else  this  could  not  be  !" 

She  turned  again  at  sound  of  the  prolonged, 
deafening  shout  of  joy  which  burst  from  thou- 
sands of  throats.  The  warrior-emperor,  Vespasian, 
clothed  in  the  imperial  purple  and  crowned  with 
laurel,  was  passing  in  his  gilded  chariot ;  but  the 
dark  eyes  of  the  woman  leapt  eagerly  to  the  face 
in  the  second  chariot.  "  My  Titus,"  she  murmured, 
drawing  her  superb  figure  up  to  its  full  height, 
"'the  delight  and  darling  of  all  the  world !'  " 

The  conqueror  stood  erect  in  his  chariot,  himself 
guiding  the  spirited  horses,  the  bright  sunshine 
resting  full  upon  his  handsome,  laurel-crowned 
head. 

The  woman  leaned  forward  to  look  after  him,  all 
her  proud  soul  in  her  eyes,  while  the  steady,  mo- 


356  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

notonous  tramp — tramp  of  thousands  of  feet  and 
the  quick  imperative  voices  of  trumpets  announced 
the  presence  of  the  scarred  and  war-worn  legion- 
aries. 

"The  next  triumph,"  she  murmured,  "will  be 
mine."  Sinking  back  upon  her  couch  she  gave 
herself  up  to  delicious  retrospect,  mingled  with  yet 
more  glowing  visions  for  the  future.  In  fancy  she 
beheld  herself  the  bride  of  Caesar,  receiving  the 
adulation  and  homage  of  princes  and  potentates, 
while  the  sparkling  diadem  of  an  empress  closed 
the  dazzling  vista.  "All  this,"  she  cried  aloud, 
"and  love  beside  !" 

So  absorbed  did  she  become  in  these  delightful 
thoughts  that  she  did  not  hear  the  sound  of  a 
hurrying  foot  on  the  stair  without;  nor  did  she 
even  so  much  as  raise  her  heavy-lidded  eyes  when 
the  door  opened  and  unannounced  a  man  entered 
her  presence. 

He  stood  for  a  moment  staring  at  the  beautiful 
woman  before  him  with  a  look  of  mingled  scorn 
and  pity.  "Ah,  princess,"  he  observed  in  a  loud, 
harsh  voice,  "  it  would  seem  that  pleasant  dreams 
visit  thee  while  the  victorious  legions  of  Rome  pass 
by." 

Berenice  looked  up.  "Is  it  thou,  Agrippa?" 
she  said,  a  shade  of  displeasure  in  her  silvery  tones. 
"Why  art  thou  here?" 

"  And  why  not,  my  hospitable  sister  ?"  retorted 
the  man,  sinking  carelessly  into  a  chair,  and  fixing 


VICTORY.  357 

his  merciless  eyes  on  the  haughty  face  of  the 
woman.  "  I  have  a  trifling  errand  with  your  high- 
ness which  may  be  said  in  a  word ;  then  I  will 
leave  you  to  your  meditations.  Make  ready  to 
leave  Rome  to-day,  carrisima ;  our  presence  is  no 
longer  desired  here." 

Berenice  started  to  her  feet  with  a  cry.  "  Leave 
Rome  !"  she  exclaimed ;  then  the  victorious  color 
rushed  back  to  cheeks  and  lips.  "  Your  jest  is  un- 
becoming, highness,"  she  said  coldly;  "for  myself, 
I  am  in  no  mood  for  witless  pleasantries." 

Agrippa  shrugged  his  shoulders.  "  By  the  gods, 
woman,  I  also  am  in  no  mood  for  either  jests  or 
pleasantries ;  what  I  have  said  is  neither  one  nor 
the  other.  The  emperor  and  the  senate  have 
learned  of  the  wishes  of  the  Conqueror  and  have 
voted  him  titles,  moneys,  provinces,  estates ;  but  to 
his  contemplated  marriage  with  the  daughter  of 
Herod  Agrippa  they  raise  insuperable  barriers.  In 
a  word  they  have  forbidden  it.  This  being  so,  we 
leave  Rome  to-day." 

The  face  of  the  \voman  was  more  colorless  than 
the  pillow  of  snow-white  byssus  against  which  it 
leaned,  but  her  voice  was  clear  and  steady  as  she 
made  answer.  "  He  who  laid  low  the  walls  of 
Jerusalem  is  also  able  to  level  the  barriers  of  which 
thou  hast  spoken." 

Agrippa  laughed  aloud.  "  The  walls  of  Jeru- 
salem were  indeed  well  builded,  my  fair  sister ;  but 
the  wall  of  Roman  pride  is  yet  stronger,  as  thou 


358  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

wilt  presently  discover. — Come,  princess,  thou  art 
no  puling,  lovesick  girl  to  shed  tears  over  the  in- 
evitable ;  this  is  but  one  misadventure  out  of  a 
thousand  victories ;  there  are  other  kings  and 
princes  to  be  enchanted,  and  thou  canst  yet  boast 
of  the  fairest  face  in  all  the  circle  of  the  earth." 

"  Leave  me  !"  cried  the  woman  fiercely,  her  eyes 
blazing  like  lurid  fires.  "  I  will  hear  this  thing  from 
his  own  lips. — Nay,it  is  not  true — it  cannot  be  true !" 

Agrippa  stared  with  scornful  curiosity  at  the  con- 
vulsed, quivering  face.  Then  he  turned  away  with 
a  short,  hard  laugh.  "  Can  it  be  possible,"  he 
ejaculated  with  affected  amazement,  "  that  Eros  has 
succeeded  at  last  in  lodging  one  of  his  poisoned 
darts  in  that  heart  of  adamant?"  He  paused  at 
the  door  and  blew  a  light  kiss  from  his  jeweled  fin- 
gers. "Farewell,  divinity,"  he  said  softly;  "re- 
member that  whatever  befalls,  thou  hast  in  me  a 
faithful  friend  and  lover." 

Three  hours  later,  Berenice,  attired  with  the  mag- 
nificence of  a  reigning  queen,  was  sweeping  rest- 
lessly up  and  down  her  chamber.  Sparks  of  soul- 
less fire  shot  out  from  the  jewels  which  wreathed 
her  dark  hair,  but  the  eyes  beneath  burned  with 
the  flame  that  consumes.  From  time  to  time  she 
paused  to  glance  impatiently  into  the  great  mirror 
whose  polished  surface  gave  back  coldly  the  tense, 
white  face  with  its  blazing  eyes.  "Am  I  beautiful, 
girl  ?"  she  demanded,  pausing  before  Merodah,  who 
was  again  in  attendance  upon  her  mistress. 


VICTORY.  359 

"  Very — very  beautiful,  dear  princess,"  said  the 
girl  softly.  "But " 

"  But  what,  slave  ?" 

"  If  thou  hast  a  desire — a — a  wish — "  The  girl 
faltered  and  hung  her  head. 

"  Well,  if  I  have  a  desire — a  wish  ;  what  then  ?" 

"We  may  ask  what  we  will  of— of  Jesus  of 
Nazareth  ;  he  will  give  it  us — if  we  but  ask  aright." 

Berenice  laughed  aloud.  "  Did  he  deliver  Jeru- 
salem at  thy  request,  girl  ?" 

"  I  did  not  ask  him  for  that." 

"Why  not?" 

"It  was  his  will  that  the  city  should  be  destroyed." 

"And  that  thou  shouldst  become  a  slave?" 

"  Yes,  truly  ;  since  it  has  come  to  pass." 

"  What  then  dost  thou  ask  at  the  hands  of  this 
dead  carpenter  who  resides  with  the  gods?" 

"  I  have  asked  him  for  the  life  of  one  whom  I 
love,"  answered  Merodah,  with  simplicity;  "this 
I  shall  receive." 

"  How  dost  thou  know  it  ?" 

The  girl  shook  her  head.  "  It  gives  me  great 
peace  here  to  love  the  Messiah,"  she  said,  laying  her 
small  hands  upon  her  bosom ;  "  I  may  also  speak 
with  him  whenever  I  will ;  and  he  is  able  to  bring 
all  things  to  pass  which  are  needful  and  good." 

"  Could  he  make  me  Empress  of  Rome  ?" 

Merodah  looked  troubled.  "Yes,  truly,"  she 
said  at  length  ;  "  Jesus  of  Nazareth  is  able  to  do 
anything." 


360  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

Berenice  shrugged  her  shoulders  with  a  harsh 
laugh.  "  I  do  not  find  it  in  my  heart  to  love  this 
crucified  prophet,"  she  said,  "  but  thou  mayest 
speak  with  him,  if  thou  wilt,  in  my  behalf.  I  have 
also  ordered  sacrifices  for  every  altar  in  Rome. 
We  shall  see — What  have  you,  Arnon  ? — A  letter  ? 
Give  it  me  !" 

"  There  are  also  five  and  twenty  Hebrew  slaves, 
worshipful  lady,  each  wearing  a  chain  and  collar 
of  gold,  which  were  sent  with  the  letter,"  said  the 
servant  with  an  obeisance. 

Berenice  was  opening  the  packet,  with  fingers 
which  trembled  not  at  all.  On  a  sudden  she  seemed 
frozen  into  stone.  Her  eyes  devoured  the  words 
which  were  written  within ;  then  without  a  sound 
she  sank  to  the  floor,  as  one  who  had  received  a 
dagger-thrust  in  the  heart.  The  perfumed  parch- 
ment, with  its  seals  of  amethyst  and  gold,  fluttered 
from  the  nerveless  fingers  and  lay  upon  the  floor 
at  her  side,  white  and  innocent  as  the  wind-blown 
petals  of  a  flower. 

The  man  stooped  and  picked  it  up  with  an  air 
of  deference.  "Attend  to  thy  mistress,  slave,"  he 
said  with  authority,  and  placed  the  letter  upon  a 
table,  but  not  before  his  rapid  eye  had  seized  upon 
the  words  within.  They  were  these  : 

"  Titus  Vespasianus  to  the  princess  Berenice, 
Greeting.  The  Fates,  ever  more  powerful  than 
Eros,  have  decreed  that  we  meet  no  more.  A  laurel- 


VICTORY.  361 

crowned  victor,  I  yet  find  myself  more  unhappy 
than  the  slave  who  walked  at  my  chariot  wheel. 
For  thy  sake  I  have  refused  the  title  Judaicus, 
which  the  Senate  decreed  me  this  day.  I  am  per- 
mitted to  do  no  more.  Farewell,  most  beautiful 
of  women.  May  the  gods  protect  thee !" 

Six  weeks  later  the  soldiers  of  the  Roman  gar- 
rison, now  the  sole  inhabitants  of  the  dreary  ruin 
once  called  Jerusalem,  were  astonished  to  behold 
a  large  and  brilliant  retinue  approach  the  city. 
They  were  still  more  astonished  when  they  learned 
that  the  princess  Berenice,  who  had  bewildered  the 
legions  by  her  lavish  magnificence  in  the  days  of 
the  late  war,  had  returned  to  this  desolate  spot  to 
perform  a  vow. 

It  was  shortly  whispered  among  the  legionaries 
that  the  royal  lady  had  once  broken  a  similar  vow 
with  disastrous  consequences  to  her  after  career  ; 
hence  the  spectacle — at  which  they  stared  with 
relish — of  a  beautiful  woman  bareheaded  and  with 
naked  feet,  who  stood  each  day  at  midnight  and  at 
noonday  among  the  ghastly  ruins  of  the  temple, 
crying  aloud  in  an  unknown  tongue  upon  an  unseen 
God.  This  continued  for  the  space  of  thirty  days  ; 
then  the  lady  and  her  attendants  disappeared  as 
suddenly  as  they  had  come. 

It  was  surmised  that  a  part  of  the  penance  which 
the  unhappy  princess  had  laid  upon  herself  consisted 
in  the  liberation  of  thirty  slaves,  one  for  each  day 


362  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

of  her  vow.  Certain  it  is  that  thirty  collars  and 
chains  of  solid  gold  were  found  on  the  day  after 
her  departure,  hung  up  within  the  blackened  walls 
of  the  Court  of  Israel.  These  the  superstitious 
soldiers  refused  to  touch,  and  for  many  months 
they  remained  there,  a  last,  vain  offering  to  the  un- 
known God  of  the  Hebrews. 

In  a  certain  quiet  village — which,  notwithstand- 
ing its  proximity  to  Jerusalem  had  escaped  the  hor- 
rors of  the  war — the  long,  level  rays  of  the  setting 
sun  shone  brightly  on  the  moss-grown  thatch  of  a 
cottage,  set  on  the  green  mountain-side  like  a  nest. 
In  the  frost-bitten  garden,  shaded  by  two  gnarled 
and  ancient  almond  trees,  a  woman  walked  amid 
the  dead  stalks  of  the  lilies.  At  morning  and  at 
evening  for  many  long  months  she  had  prayed  for 
death  ;  but  the  Death-angel  was  weary  with  his 
labors  and  came  not. 

It  was  now  winter.  Below  in  the  ruinous  khan  of 
Bethlehem  the  grandchildren  of  the  innkeeper  were 
hanging  up  green  garlands  of  the  olive  and  the  fir  in 
the  manger  where  the  carpenter's  son  first  saw  the 
light.  There  was  noonetosaythem  nay  in  these  days. 
They  stopped  in  their  joyous  labor  long  enough  to 
inform  two  wayfarers  that  the  widow  of  Samuel  was 
yet  alive  and  dwelt  in  her  house  in  Aphtha. 

It  was  a  man  who  asked  for  this  information, 
and  his  face  shone  with  joy  as  he  rejoined  his  com- 
panion who  waited,  modestly-veiled,  in  the  court- 
yard of  the  inn. 


VICTORY.  363 

"  My  mother  is  alive,"  he  said.     "  Thank  God  !" 

The  woman  drew  her  veil  about  her  face  more 
closely.  "I  am  glad,"  she  said  softly;  "ah,  He 
is  good  to  give  us  what  we  ask  !"  After  a  little 
she  stopped  short.  "  I — I  will  go  no  further.  I 
will  stay  here.  I  shall  perhaps  be  able  to  find  work 
in  some  of  the  vineyards  hereabouts." 

The  man  also  stopped,  and  stared  at  the  small 
figure  at  his  side  with  astonishment  and  dismay. 
"  Merodah  !"  he  cried.  "  What  meanest  them  ? 
Stop  here  ? — Not  go  with  me  to  my  mother  !  Nay, 
but  thou  must  go  !" 

When  there  was  no  answer  to  this  masterful 
assertion,  the  tall  young  man  stooped  and  drew 
the  shrouding  drapery  from  the  downcast  face. 
"Merodah,"  he  whispered,  "Christ-maiden,  who 
hast  taught  me  to  know  and  love  the  world's 
Burden-bearer ;  to  whom  dost  thou  belong  in  all 
the  wide,  lonely  earth  if  not  to  me  ?  Beloved,  do 
not  say  me  nay." 

And  so  it  came  to  pass  that  both  joy  and  love 
returned  to  the  cottage  on  the  hillside.  And 
Rachel,  who  had  prayed  in  vain  for  death,  lived  to 
thank  God  that  all  her  prayers  had  not  been  an- 
swered. 

To  all  three,  in  the  serene  and  happy  years  that 
followed,  came  such  understanding  of  the  terrible 
events  which  had  shaken  the  world  as  the  great 
Master  is  able  to  make  plain  to  those  who  come  to 
him  in  the  simplicity  of  loving  faith.  They  com- 


364  THE  CROSS  TRIUMPHANT. 

prehended  that  although  their  city  was  destroyed, 
there  was  also  a  New  Jerusalem,  '  wherein  they 
that  dwell  shall  be  forgiven  their  iniquities ' ;  that 
although  their  sanctuary  was  perished,  it  was  but 
the  shadow  of  the  heavenly  temple,  into  which 
they  might  enter  with  joy,  made  forever  white  and 
clean  through  the  blood  of  Christ,  who  was  in 
truth  "an  High  Priest  of  good  things  to  come,  in 
a  greater  and  more  perfect  temple — a  High  Priest 
who  was  set  forever  on  the  right  hand  of  the  throne 
of  the  Majesty  in  the  heavens ;  a  minister  of  the 
sanctuary  and  of  the  true  temple,  which  the  Lord 
hath  builded,  and  not  man." 


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